DARA Calleary has been appointed the new Minister for Social Protection, taking over the role from retired Fine Gael TD Heather Humphreys. The Mayo TD has returned to ministerial ranks in the new Government under Taoiseach Micheal Martin, who has taken over the role of Social Protection, Rural Affairs, and the Gaeltacht. The previous Minister for Social Protection made the shock announcement in October, confirming that she would not be re-elected. During the change of the government, Dara Calleary was appointed to be the new Minister for Social Protection, Rural Affairs and the Gaeltacht. He previously served as Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine for a short period. Also, he served as Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment in the previous Government. Dara Calleary was born in Ballina, Co Mayo on May 10, 1973. He is the son of Sean Calleary who was a TD for Mayo East from 1973 to 1992 and the grandson of Phelim Calleary, who was a TD for Mayo North from 1952 to 1969. Sean Calleary, born on October 27 1931, in Ballina, was also a Fianna Fail TD and served as a Government minister for eight years. He served as Minister of State at the Department of the Public Service from 1979 to 1981, at the Department of Industry and Commerce in 1982 and at the Department of Foreign Affairs from 1987 to 1992. Mr Calleary was also a member of the Mayo County Council from 1967 to 1987. He died on June 4, 2018, at the age of 86 in his home town in Mayo. Dara was educated at St Oliver Plunkett National School and St Muredach's College. He later continued his studies at Trinity College Dublin and has a degree in business and politics. He previously worked with Chambers Ireland and in an Irish bank. POLITICAL CAREER Calleary has been a member of the Fianna Fail National Executive since 1997, serving on party policy committees on Transport, Enterprise and Employment, Agriculture and Youth Affairs. He was elected to Dail Eireann during the 2007 general election and was appointed Chairman of Ogra Fianna Fail by then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern at the National Youth Conference in Co Offaly in February 2008. In April 2009, Dara was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment with responsibility for Labour Affairs. He was then appointed Minister of State at the Department of An Taoiseach and the Department of Finance with responsibility for Public Service Transformation on March 23, 2010. Dara was re-elected to Dail Eireann in February 2011 and 2016 serving as Fianna Fail Spokesperson on Justice, Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation and Public Expenditure & Reform from 2016 to 2018. In March 2018, the Mayo man was also made Deputy Leader of Fianna Fáil and and Director of Policy Development by party leader Micheal Martin. On June 27 2020, at the formation of the new government, Calleary was appointed by Taoiseach Micheal Martin as Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach with responsibility as Chief Whip. The role comes with a task to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. On July 1, 2020, he was appointed to the further position of Minister of State for the Gaeltacht and Sport. On July 15, 2020, after the sacking of Barry Cowen from the position, he was also appointed as Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine by Micheal Martin. Mr Calleary eventually resigned on August 21, 2020, after the Oireachtas golf Society scandal broke out, in which 81 people, including himself, attended the dinner, breaching the Government's COVID-19 guidelines. WHAT WAS HIS PREVIOUS ROLE? During the previous government coalition, he was the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment after Robert Troy resigned in August 2022. His role was to provide a range of tailored supports for enterprises of all sizes in Ireland. Such supports included access to finance, management development, mentoring, business development programmes, market support and trade promotion. Following the appointment of Jack Chambers as Minister for Finance, Calleary was appointed as a super junior minister attending cabinet in 2024. At the 2024 General Election, he was re-elected to the Dail. PERSONAL LIFE The Mayo TD proposed to his wife Siobhan Gready after dating for two years. Calleary popped the question while the couple were on a romantic holiday in Rome in 2012. Siobhan is a primary school teacher at Scoil Ursula in Sligo and has been friends with the Fianna Fail deputy leader for a number of years. The couple do not have any children. Dara said that at the beginning of their engagement he had already lured his fiancée into Fianna Fail, the party that his family has represented in north Mayo for three generations.