Joan Theresa Burke (née Crowley; 8 February 1928 – 27 November 2016) was an Irish Fine Gael politician, farmer and nurse who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1964 to 1981.[1]
She was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fine Gael TD for the Roscommon constituency at the July 1964 by-election caused by the death of her husband James Burke.[1] Her victory made her the first woman to ever represent County Roscommon as a TD, and she was only the fourth woman to represent Cumann na nGaedheal/Fine Gael since the foundation of the state.[2] Burke topped the poll in every single election she ever fought.[3]
She was from Bandon, County Cork.[4] She was educated at Presentation Convent, Bandon, and later at Loreto Convent, Killarney, County Kerry. She trained as a nurse at Galway Regional Hospital, qualifying in 1951 and worked in Dublin at Cork Street Fever Hospital, and Cherry Orchard Hospital, Ballyfermot.[4] She first came to Tulsk to attend a friend's wedding and while there met James Burke, whom she later married in 1959. At the time of the marriage, James had already been a TD for 5 years. It was in James' native Tulsk the pair settled.[2]
As a TD, Joan Burke was a pronounced opponent of the “marriage bar” which prohibited women in Ireland from working in the public sector if they were married (the mentality of the time being that a married woman's place was in the home). She was also a noted advocate for the rights of farmers.[2]
