Joan Burton TD
Minister for Social Protection
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 March 2011
Preceded by	Éamon Ó Cuív
Minister of State for Overseas Development Aid and Human Rights
In office 20 December 1994 – 26 June 1997
Preceded by	Tom Kitt
Succeeded by	Liz O'Donnell
Minister of State at the Department of Social Welfare
In office 14 January 1993 – 15 December 1994
Preceded by	New office
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Teachta Dála
Incumbent
Assumed office May 2002
In office November 1992 – June 1997
Constituency	Dublin West
Personal details
Born	(1949-02-01) 1 February 1949 (age 63) Dublin, Ireland
Nationality	Irish
Political party	Labour Party
Spouse(s)	Pat Carroll
Children	1
Alma mater	University College Dublin
Website	www.joanburton.ie

Joan Burton (born 1 February 1949) is an Irish Labour Party politician and the current Minister for Social Protection. She is a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin West constituency.^[1]

Burton was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1992 general election. From 1995–97, she was Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs. She lost her seat at the 1997 general election but was re-elected to Dáil Éireann at the 2002 general election.^[2]

Early and private life[link]

Burton is a native of the Stoneybatter area of Dublin. She was adopted by the Burton's as a baby and brought up in Inchicore. Her adoptive father worked in the local iron foundry. She was educated at St Gabriel's NS, Cowper St and St Joseph Sisters of Charity Secondary School, Stanhope Street and University College Dublin (UCD) where she graduated with a degree in Commerce. She is also a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. She has worked as a lecturer in Accountancy in the Dublin Institute of Technology and the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Political career[link]

She first stood for election at the 1989 general election, when she stood as one of two Labour candidates in the Dublin Central constituency, failing to get elected.^[3] At the local elections in 1991, she was elected to Dublin County Council for the Mulhuddart electoral area.^[3] Burton was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1992 general election, representing Dublin West in the 27th Dáil.^[3] She was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Social Welfare in the Fianna Fáil–Labour Party coalition that was formed after that election. With the breakdown of that coalition and establishment of a Rainbow Coalition between the Labour Party, Fine Gael and Democratic Left in early 1995, she became Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, a position she held until the coalition's defeat at 1997 general election.^[3]

She lost her seat at the 1997 general election to Joe Higgins of the Socialist Party. Joan was re-elected to Fingal County Council in the 1999 local elections, on this occasion winning a seat in the Castleknock electoral area. She was re-elected to the Dáil for Dublin West at the 2002 general election.^[3] She was then appointed the Spokesperson on Finance. She was a candidate for the deputy leadership of the party in 2002, obtaining 24% of the first preference vote, but was unsuccessful. She became deputy leader of the Labour Party in September 2007.

She was voted by political journalists as the Magill TD of the Year 2007 and 2008.

Burton was re-elected to represent Dublin West at the 2011 general election, topping the poll on the 1st count with 9,627 votes,^[4] and was the first TD to be elected in the country for the 31st Dáil.^[5]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Joan Burton

• Official website
• Joan Burton's page on the Labour Party website

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (May 2008)

Mario Rosenstock
Born	31 August 1971 (1971-08-31) (age 40)
Nationality	Irish
Notable works and roles	Gift Grub

Mario Rosenstock born 31 August 1971, is an Irish actor, comedian, impressionist and musician.

His grandfather, George Rosenstock, was in the Wehrmacht and fought in World War II. His uncle is Gabriel Rosenstock, one of Ireland's most notable Irish language poets and member of INNTI with Michael Davitt (Poet), Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill and Liam Ó Muirthile.^[1]

Career[link]

Rosenstock first came to the attention of the Irish public playing the role of Dr. David Hanlon in the soap Glenroe in the 1990s.^[2]

However, he is now best known for the popular Gift Grub segments which have featured on the Ian Dempsey breakfast show on Today FM since 1999. Gift Grub is a series of comic sketches, impersonations and parodies that have featured Rosenstock assuming the personae of Bertie Ahern, Ronan Keating, Colin Farrell and Roy Keane amongst many others; he also provides the manic voice of Right Price Tiles radio spokesperson "Daft Dave".

Rosenstock performed an impersonation of José Mourinho in a parody of a song from the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. This spread like wildfire on Internet message boards and eventually it was played on a Sky Sports broadcast. Mourinho had heard the song and enjoyed the impersonation so much he asked Rosenstock to perform a private show for him and the Chelsea squad.^[3] Rosenstock later released, with Mourinho's blessing, a single version of "José and his Amazing Technicolor Overcoat". He also released another song ("I Sign a Little Player or Two") on the internet with a parody of Mourinho in an interview then breaking into song.

In 2005, he starred as Keano in the comedy musical play I, Keano, which concerns Keane leaving the Republic of Ireland national football team during the run-up to the 2002 FIFA World Cup.^[4]

In 2005, Rosenstock achieved the Christmas number one single in the Irish music Charts, with a parody of Will Young's song Leave Right Now (which itself was a Christmas number-one in 2003). The parody concerned Roy Keane's controversial departure from Manchester United and his falling-out with Alex Ferguson. As of 2011, Rosenstock is the last Irish national to top his country's Christmas charts; since 2006, winners of British series The X Factor have topped the Christmas charts in Ireland every year.

Between December 2007 and May 2009, Rosenstock worked on a puppet comedy series entitled Special 1 TV (originally I'm on Setanta Sports), which was presented as a parody weekly football talk show hosted by "José Mourinho". Rosenstock voiced all the puppet characters on the sketch, with the exception of "Rafael Benitez", who was performed by Keith Burke, including the main character Mourinho, his studio co-hosts "Sven-Göran Eriksson" and "Wayne Rooney", and regular phone-in callers like "Alex Ferguson", "Arsène Wenger", "Roy Keane" and "Mick McCarthy", as well as the non-football-related characters, Nelson Mandela,^[5] Willie Nelson, Barack Obama and Tom Cruise.

Outstanding Achievement Award at the 11th annual PPI (Phonographic Performance Ireland) Radio Awards.^[6]

Filmography[link]

• Miracle at Berne (Walt Disney Company)

Notes[link]

Mary Lou McDonald TD
Teachta Dála
Incumbent
Assumed office 26 February 2011
Constituency	Dublin Central
Vice President of Sinn Féin
Incumbent
Assumed office 2009
Preceded by	Pat Doherty
Member of the European Parliament
In office June 2004 – June 2009
Constituency	Dublin
Personal details
Born	(1969-05-01) 1 May 1969 (age 43) Dublin
Nationality	Irish
Political party	Sinn Féin
Spouse(s)	Martin McDonald
Children	2
Alma mater	Trinity College, Dublin, University of Limerick, Dublin City University

Mary Lou McDonald (born 1 May 1969 in Dublin) is an Irish politician, the current Vice President of Sinn Féin and a Teachta Dála (TD) for Dublin Central.^[1] McDonald was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP), from 2004–2009 representing the Dublin constituency.