Geoghegan-Quinn supported Charles Haughey in the 1979 Fianna Fáil leadership election and was subsequently appointed to the cabinet post of Minister for the Gaeltacht.

[6] At the 1997 general election she retired from politics completely, citing privacy issues, after details about her 17-year-old son's expulsion from school appeared in the newspapers.

[7] Other reports suggested that she saw her prospects for promotion under Ahern as poor,[8] and a weak showing in constituency opinion polls indicated her seat could be in danger.

[9] She became a non-executive director of Aer Lingus, a member of the board of the Declan Ganley-owned Ganley Group, and wrote a column for The Irish Times.

[10] She was nominated by the Taoiseach Brian Cowen to become Ireland's European Commissioner in November 2009,[11] and was subsequently allocated the Research, Innovation and Science portfolio.

[12] In April 2010, after numerous calls were made over several days for Geoghegan-Quinn to surrender her pensions as an Irish former politician—which were worth over €104,000—while she remained in a paid public office, she did so.

[14] In March 2021, NUI Galway announced her appointment as chairperson of Údarás na hOllscoile, the University's Governing Authority, on a four-year term until 2025.