Born October 7th, 1944
Died January 4th, 2026
Entrepreneur and former senator, Mary White (nee Casey), who has died aged 81, was a pioneer in business and politics who advocated for women, minorities and peace in Northern Ireland.
News of her death prompted tributes from across Irish life, including from serving politicians, current and former taoisigh and presidents and numerous private individuals whom she aided during her career.
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White is remembered primarily for her business and political exploits. She and Connie Doody founded Lir Chocolates in 1987, taking it from a standing start to a company valued at several million when it was sold to British group Zetar 20 years later.
During her political career she served as a senator through three Oireachtas terms, and as a leading figure in Fianna Fáil, where she was at the centre of efforts to encourage more women into the party.
She worked to foster cross-Border co-operation, including through extending the Gaisce President’s award scheme to the North.
Before success in business and politics thrust her into the limelight, White worked for more than a decade at the National Building Agency (NBA), designing local authority homes.
People who knew her remember a dynamic, generous woman who combined ambition with a strong commitment to helping others, which White maintained was one of her main motivations for entering politics.
Her husband, Padraic White, former managing director of the Industrial Development Agency, now IDA Ireland, says she was a “person of enormous empathy”.
She was born in Dundalk, Co Louth, on October 7th, 1944, to Frank and Mary Casey. After spending her early years there, the family moved to Newbridge, Co Kildare, where her father became the youngest postmaster in the State.
White obtained a scholarship to study as an architectural technician at the Office of Public Works and Bolton Street Tech. She joined the NBA in 1974. While there she studied for a degree in economics and politics at UCD.
Involvement in a community initiative in Dundrum, Dublin, sent White on a different path. At a meeting one night she met Doody, who was making chocolates at home, and decided to join her.
She left the NBA more or less immediately and the two women started Lir Chocolates from a facility at North Wall in Dublin. “They were a brilliant combination,” says Padraic White. “Connie was a magician with the recipes and Mary did the marketing and branding.”
White was quick to spot opportunities to promote the company’s products. One of her early ports of call was RTÉ broadcaster Gay Byrne. His morning radio show drew many female listeners, while he was keen to promote entrepreneurship, seen as one of the routes out of the recession that gripped the Republic in the 1980s.
Items on radio led to appearances on The Late Late Show, the country’s most-watched TV programme. The relationship with Byrne was one of many that White fostered.
[ Late Fianna Fáil senator Mary White remembered as ‘force of nature’ by TaoiseachOpens in new window ]
She proved a formidable dealmaker. When Tesco entered the Irish market, White used its then chief executive Terry Leahy’s Irish links – he had roots in Co Armagh – as leverage to convince the chain to stock Lir Chocolates, a move that proved crucial to the company’s growth.
In a similar vein, White successfully negotiated an agreement with drinks giant Diageo that enabled Lir to produce a Baileys Irish Cream chocolate liqueur, demonstrating that the firm could mix it with global brands.
A radio item about the low number of women entering politics prompted her to run for the Seanad’s industrial and commercial panel for Fianna Fáil in 2002. She had been a member of the party’s ard comhairle but few gave her a chance. Nevertheless, White was elected and ended up serving in the upper house until the 2016 general election.
She brought her work ethic to politics. Her husband recalls that on her first day, she showed up at Leinster House at 7.30am to find it still closed. (It opened at 8am.) Over the next 14 years she campaigned for women, older people, thalidomide survivors and many others she felt were excluded.
In 2002 the peace process was still fragile as the Belfast Agreement was just four years old. White worked with groups in the North. One thing she realised was that pupils in schools in nationalist areas saw the Duke of Edinburgh youth awards scheme as a nonrunner. So she worked to get the Gaisce President of Ireland scheme extended to the North. White established good links with the Duke of Edinburgh Trust, which had no objection. She also won support from the Republic’s Department of Foreign Affairs.
Her sense of justice led to controversy too. In 2001 the Colombian authorities arrested three Irish men, Jim Monaghan, Niall Connolly and Martin McCauley, in Bogotá, travelling with false passports. In a case quickly dubbed “the Colombia three”, they were accused of links to the Farc guerrilla campaign in the South American country.
White travelled to Colombia, specifically as an observer to ensure that the trio got a fair trial. She did this at her own expense, as an independent individual, so no organisation with which she was associated could be implicated. Monaghan, Connolly and McCauley returned to Ireland in 2005.
Her success in aiding others stemmed from the fact that she was a “business person and a can-do person”, says Padraic White. “She would go with them and open doors for them. She always encouraged other women and gave them confidence not to be afraid to pursue their careers.”
Mary White is survived by her husband, Padraic; daughter Cliona; sisters Ita, Olive, Grainne; and brother Liam.
