{"id":17198,"date":"2025-09-12T18:56:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T18:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/17198\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T18:56:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T18:56:07","slug":"former-fine-gael-minister-gemma-hussey-left-e4-88m-estate-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/17198\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Fine Gael minister Gemma Hussey left \u20ac4.88m estate \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The late Gemma Hussey<\/a> left an estate valued at \u20ac4.88 million when she died in November 2024, according to papers published this week by the Probate Office<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Ms Hussey had a successful business career as a language school operator in the 1960s and 1970s and was instrumental in the Women\u2019s Political Association from about 1973. <\/p>\n

She later became an Independent senator before joining Fine Gael<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Ms Hussey was first elected to D\u00e1il \u00c9ireann<\/a> in the February 1982 general election, as a Fine Gael TD for Wicklow. She went on to make history as Ireland\u2019s first woman minister for education and Fine Gael\u2019s first female cabinet minister. <\/p>\n

Ms Hussey served as a TD until 1989, and held a number of ministerial posts including minister for education (1982-1986), minister for social welfare (1986-1987) and for a brief period in 1987 as minister for labour.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Gemma Hussey obituary: Third woman ever to be appointed to CabinetOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris<\/a> acknowledged her influence in a tribute following her death saying: \u201cI was one of the lucky people to enjoy her company, her advice and her good humour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Hussey was married to Derry Hussey, a former financial director of the Jones Group and chairman of former taoiseach Garret FitzGerald\u2019s constituency executive. Mr Hussey predeceased his wife in December 2020. <\/p>\n

Ms Hussey was mentioned as a possible presidential candidate for Fine Gael in 1997. Ms Hussey was also a supporter of marriage equality and the Yes campaign to repeal the constitutional ban on abortion. <\/p>\n

\"GemmaGemma Hussey, second from right, with other members of the 1986 Cabinet re-shuffle: front row, left to right: then taoiseach Dr Garret FitzGerald, president Patrick Hillery. Back row left: Ruair\u00ed Quinn, John Bruton, Alan Dukes, Paddy O’Toole, John Boland, Paddy Cooney, Barry Desmond, Michael Noonan and Liam Kavanagh. Photograph: Paddy Whelan <\/p>\n

She lived in Ballsbridge and died in the Gascoigne Nursing Home, Ranelagh, after a short illness in November last, aged 86 years. Ms Hussey is survived by her children, Rachel, Ruth and Andrew. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Tim Platt, well-known owner of the Harbour Bar, Kinsale, Co Cork and host to more than a generation of sailors and locals alike, left an estate valued at \u20ac2.372 million when he died in July 2024. <\/p>\n

According to papers published by the Probate Office this week, Mr Platt, who was unmarried, died intestate. His parents Jeb and Stanley who previously ran the Harbour Bar, having moved from The Delgany Inn in Co Wicklow, in 1977, pre-deceased him. <\/p>\n

The Harbour Bar was notable as neither Mr Pratt nor his parents, nor previous owner Doris Hutchinson, ever served draught beer in the pub. Patrons happily made do with bottled beer. The Lonely Planet Travel Guide said: \u201cLandlord Tim presides over the battered old sofas and small brick bar, shares stories and keeps the fire stoked in the hearth. Wonderfully bonkers.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mr Pratt is survived by two nieces who are resident in the UK. <\/p>\n

Vincent P O\u2019Sullivan, former minority stakeholder and later chief executive of Tayto, left an estate valued at \u20ac9.788 million, when he died on July 1st, 2023, according to a grant of probate issued by the Probate Office in Dublin this week. <\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Sullivan, of Foxrock in south Co Dublin, and formerly of Aughrim Co Wicklow, had launched an unsuccessful management buyout of the snack food group before C&C bought it in 1999, but decided to stay on board until 2022, when he retired from the business. <\/p>\n

The sums mentioned in this article relate to the gross value of an estate. This would typically include all assets including the family home, land and\/or investments. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The late Gemma Hussey left an estate valued at \u20ac4.88 million when she died in November 2024, according…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17199,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3775,61,60,15843,70,112,15844],"class_list":{"0":"post-17198","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-fine-gael","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-probate-office","12":"tag-simon-harris","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-tayto"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}