Josepha Madigan

Josepha Madigan (born 21 May 1970) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Minister of State for Special Education and Inclusion from July 2020 to March 2024. She served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Rathdown constituency from 2016 to 2024. She served as Minister for Culture, Heritage, and the Gaeltacht from November 2017 to June 2020, and as Chair of the Committee on Budgetary Oversight from July 2016 to November 2017.

Madigan was born in Dublin in 1970. She attended Mount Anville Secondary School and Trinity College Dublin. She is married to Finbarr Hayes, and they have two children. Her father, Patrick Madigan, was a Fianna Fáil County Councillor in Dublin, her mother, Patricia Madigan, was a barrister who had a background in Fine Gael. She and her family live in Mount Merrion. Madigan is a survivor of sexual assault.

Madigan is a qualified solicitor, who practised in family law for twenty years, prior to her election to Dáil Éireann. She is also certified as a mediator by the Mediators' Institute of Ireland (MII) and is a previous Council member of the MII. She is a former Specialist Liaison Officer for Family Mediation in the MII.

Madigan is the author of the first book in Ireland on mediation: Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Ireland, a handbook for family lawyers and their clients (Jordan Publishing, 2012). She has also self-published a novel called Negligent Behaviour.

Madigan served as a councillor for the local electoral area of Stillorgan on Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council, from May 2014 until her election as a TD in 2016.

Madigan issued a leaflet in 2014 claimed that providing accommodation for Travellers in her constituency would be "a waste of valuable resources". When asked about this later, Madigan claimed "Some people won't want to live beside people in halting sites [...] there might be more crime, that there might be anti-social behaviour".

Madigan was elected to the 32nd Dáil at the 2016 general election as a Fine Gael TD for the Dublin Rathdown constituency, defeating sitting Fine Gael TD Alan Shatter by nearly 1,000 votes. She was appointed Chair of the Committee on Budgetary Oversight in July 2017.

She was a member of the Public Accounts Committee. She introduced a private member's bill to reduce the waiting time for divorce in Ireland from four years to two, which was passed by the Dáil.