Eamon Gilmore (born 24 April 1955) is a European Union diplomat and an Irish former Labour Party politician.

Labour entered into a coalition government with Fine Gael, with Gilmore being appointed Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Gilmore was elected unopposed as Labour Party leader in 2007; he resigned from the post in July 2014 and was succeeded by Joan Burton.

When he was 14 months old his father died, leaving his mother to run the mixed farm and raise Gilmore and his younger brother John.

Following his sixth-year state primary exam, he qualified for a scholarship from Galway County Council which enabled him to attend secondary school.

He was heavily involved in organising tax protests in Galway and resisting redundancies and closures in County Kerry.

[9] Gilmore has described the driving factors which have informed his working life, whether as a trade union officer or public representative.

[12] In an attempt to address these issues Gilmore and De Rossa along with their supporters sought to distance themselves from paramilitary activity at a special Ardfheis held in Dún Laoghaire on 15 February 1992.

A motion proposed by De Rossa and general secretary Des Geraghty sought to stand down the existing membership, elect an 11-member provisional executive council and make several other significant changes in party structures was defeated.

Along with other prominent figures including Proinsias de Rossa and Eamon Dunphy, Gilmore was among the first organisers of the Peace Train campaign which was started in 1989 in response to the repeated bombing of the Dublin to Belfast railway by the Provisional IRA.

Northern Ireland was also a priority for Gilmore as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade during which time his efforts to reach out to the unionist community in particular were acknowledged.

[citation needed] After Quinn's resignation in 2002, Gilmore unsuccessfully contested the Leadership won by former student union and political colleague Pat Rabbitte.

He received support from senior figures such as Michael D. Higgins, Ruairi Quinn, Willie Penrose, Liz McManus and Emmet Stagg, and did not have to contest a ballot, being formally confirmed as leader on 6 September, after being the only declared candidate.

In September 2009, at the Labour Parliamentary Party Meeting in Waterford, Gilmore categorically ruled out a coalition with Fianna Fáil after the next general election, reiterating what he had said in earlier interviews.

[25] Gilmore also played a leading role in the modernisation and liberalisation of Ireland's social legislation, most notably on divorce and abortion, and has been to the fore in the campaign for gay marriage.

Gilmore also committed to holding a constitutional referendum on the issue a key plank of the Labour/Fine Gael programme for government.

As Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Gilmore was behind the most significant expansion of Ireland's embassy network for several decades, opening eight new diplomatic missions across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas in 2014.

The troika bailout was triggered in November 2010 following the collapse of the Irish property market which in turn had pushed the country's banks into financial crisis.

[35] A blanket guarantee on all of the liabilities of the Irish banks — established by the previous Fianna Fáil/Green Party coalition in September 2008 — dragged the State to near bankruptcy and forced the government to turn to the EU/IMF as lenders of last resort.

In an interview with RTÉ's Morning Ireland radio programme on 15 November, Gilmore explained that the Government had conducted a long process of consultation with international institutions and other EU member states before deciding to exit the bailout cleanly.

[41] He was part of the process which aimed at resolving issues relating to parading, flags and emblems, and the past that was chaired by US diplomat Richard Haass from September to December 2013,[42][43] and he maintained contact with the parties involved until he was replaced as foreign affairs minister in a cabinet reshuffle the following year.

[47] As Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Gilmore led Ireland's seventh Presidency of the Council of the European Union during the first half of 2013.

[48][49] In November 2011, Gilmore announced the closure of Ireland's embassies in Iran and the Vatican, and a representative office in East Timor, on economic grounds.

[52][53][54] On 17 June 2014, Gilmore travelled to Washington D.C. for two days of meetings, most of which focused on Republican members of the House of Representatives.

[54][55][56] In December,[clarification needed] Gilmore once again put his support behind the Croke Park Deal on public sector pay and conditions.

[20] He published a book in November 2010 entitled Leading Lights: People Who've Inspired Me and an account of his time as Labour leader during the financial crash and recovery, Inside the Room: The Untold Story of Ireland's Crisis Government in 2016.