[13] The Commission on Irish in the Gaeltacht (Comisiún na Gaeltachta) also completed its work under her guidance and Coughlan saw its report approved and published.

[21] During her time as Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Coughlan was praised for introducing large increases in child benefits and pensions.

Coughlan also established the Office of the Pensions Ombudsman and provided additional funding and support for the State's Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS).

[24] They criticised the government's and the Minister's roles, both were seen as not doing enough to try to stop the closures, though they had retained some control over the factories since they had been privatised several years before.

Shortly after her re-appointment Coughlan had to put in place measures to deal with the threat of the potential spread of foot-and-mouth disease from Great Britain in early August 2007.

[29] Following Bertie Ahern's resignation on 6 May 2008, Coughlan, in a cabinet re-shuffle, became Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment on 7 May 2008, by newly appointed Taoiseach Brian Cowen.

As a proponent of the Treaty of Lisbon, Coughlan was noted to have "quietly withdrawn" from the first referendum campaign after she embarrassed the Government in a radio interview by not knowing the number of European Commissioners.

According to an editorial in The Irish Times, "how someone who had spent several years around an EU Council of Ministers' table could not know that is extraordinary".

[32] Her performance as Tánaiste in defence of the October 2008 budget was criticised by opposition politicians and the media,[34] with Fine Gael's Leo Varadkar publicly comparing Coughlan to gaffe-prone Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin.

[35][36] Varadkar's comments were challenged by broadcaster John Bowman and Sunday Tribune journalist Justine McCarthy, as well as by Coughlan herself.

[38] Coughlan acted to clean up years of wasteful spending by executives at FÁS, the state training and employment agency, and was considered to have taken a tough line with Director General, Rody Molloy, who was forced to resign in November 2008.

The findings highlighted retailers' larger margins in the Republic about their operations in the North, and Coughlan queried why the price differential in many identical goods was substantially more than 5%.

[45][46] She also successfully secured over €22 million of European Globalisation Adjustment Fund money to the benefit of the workers made redundant in Limerick.

[31] On 23 March 2010, as part of a cabinet reshuffle, she was appointed as Minister for Education and Skills, while retaining the position of Tánaiste.

[60] One of Coughlan's first initiatives in the portfolio was to voice her support for the introduction of a CAO points bonus for students studying higher level maths.

[61] She revamped the Student Maintenance Grant application procedure, streamlining administration and getting the scheme out two months earlier than in previous years.

[63] Her running mate Brian Ó Domhnaill also failed to be elected, leaving Donegal South-West without a Fianna Fáil TD for the first time in its history.

In 2022, Coughlan stepped back into public life when she was appointed Chair of the National Conference on Women in Farming by her successor as Donegal Fianna Fáil TD, the Minister for Agriculture, Charlie McConalogue.

In March 2004, she introduced the Social Welfare Amendment Act 2004 in response to a case involving same-sex partner benefits.

[70][71][72] Two months later, Coughlan caused comment at a European Union conference on family and social policy by stating that Ireland would never be ready for same-sex marriage or gay adoption.