 nora owen (nÃ©e o'mahony; born 1 june 1945) is a former irish fine gael politician and is the current presenter of tv3's topical programme midweek. she was a teachta dÃ¡la (td) for dublin north from 1981 to 1987 and from 1989 to 2002. she also served as minister for justice from 1994 to 1997. ==early life== nora o'mahony was born in dublin in 1945. she is a sister of mary banotti and a grandniece of the irish revolutionary leader michael collins. she was educated at dominican convent, county wicklow and university college dublin (ucd) where she qualified as an industrial chemist. ==political career== owen was first elected to dublin county council in 1979 for the malahide local electoral area. she was later elected as a fine gael td for the first time in 1981, serving until the 1987 election when she lost her seat. that year she became a member of the executive of trÃ³caire. she returned to dÃ¡il Ãireann in 1989 becoming deputy leader of fine gael in 1993. the following year she became minister for justice, remaining in that post until 1997. journalist veronica guerin was murdered in 1996 and in its aftermath owen introduced the highly successful criminal assets bureau to crack down on organised crime. in 2002 she became the first high-profile fine gael td to lose her seat in dublin north in the party's disastrous general election. ==post-political life== owen is the patron of the collins 22 society, which works to keep the
1945_births Alumni_of_University_College_Dublin Collins_family Female_TeachtaA_DA!la Female_government_ministers_of_the_Republic_of_Ireland Fine_Gael_politicians Living_people Members_of_the_22nd_DA!il Members_of_the_23rd_DA!il Members_of_the_24th_DA!il Members_of_the_26th_DA!il Members_of_the_27th_DA!il Members_of_the_28th_DA!il Ministers_for_Justice_(Ireland) Politicians_from_County_Dublin TV3_(Ireland)_presenters TeachtaA_DA!la