Richard Bruton TD

Richard Bruton TD was appointed Minister of Education and Skills on 6 May 2016.  He previously served as Minister for Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation from March 2011 to May 2016. 

In 2012 Richard launched our first annual Action Plan for Jobs. Hundreds of measures right across government have been delivered according to tight timetables. These actions have helped enterprise create sustainable jobs.

Since we launched our Action Plan for Jobs over 135,000 additional new jobs have been created. This success is putting lives back on track, is lifting communities and is providing the state with resources to start repairing some of the damage caused by the crash.  

Richard was first elected to Dáil Éireann for Dublin North Central in 1982. He has served a number of terms as a member of Dublin City Council.

Richard was Minister for Enterprise and Employment from 1994-1997 when 1,000 jobs a week were being created in Ireland.

He previously served as Minister of State at the Department of Industry and Commerce, 1986-87.

Richard worked as an economist before entering politics in the private sector and with the ESRI. He acted as Policy Director for Fine Gael and authored numerous policy papers on finance, education, employment, and the public service, including Fine Gael’s “Reinventing Government” to reform politics and reinvent the public service.

Richard is married to Susan Meehan and they have four children. In his spare time, Richard enjoys running, swimming, cycling, cooking and music. His signature dish is Chicken Balti. His favourite music is Leonard Cohen.