Irene Vorrink

Her Excellency
Irene Vorrink
Her Excellency Irene Vorrink
	Irene Vorrink in 1979
Minister of Health and Environment
	In office; 11 May 1973 – 19 December 1977
Prime Minister	Joop den Uyl
Preceded by	Louis Stuyt
Succeeded by	Leendert Ginjaar
Member of the Senate
	In office; 16 September 1969 – 11 May 1973
Parliamentary group	Labour Party
Personal details
Born	Irene Vorrink; 7 January 1918; The Hague, Netherlands
Died	21 August 1996 (aged 78); Leek, Netherlands
Political party	Labour Party (from 1946)
Other political; affiliations	Social Democratic ; Workers' Party (1936–1946)
Spouse	Joop Zwart (m. 1946; div. 1948)
Domestic partner(s)	Petrus Hugenholtz ; (1954–1996)
Children	Koos Zwart (1947–2014)
Parent	Koos Vorrink (1891–1955) (father);
Alma mater	University of Amsterdam ; (Bachelor of Laws, Master of Laws)
Occupation	Politician · Civil servant · Jurist · Journalist · Editor · Nonprofit director

Irene Vorrink (7 January 1918 – 21 August 1996) was a Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA).^[1]

She was born on 7 January 1918 in The Hague as the daughter of the Dutch socialist leader Koos Vorrink. She studied law until 1943 and held several legal functions, before she became a member of the Senate for the PvdA in 1969.^[2]

In 1973 she became Minister of Health in the cabinet Den Uyl. A major issue was the legislation concerning drugs, which she achieved in 1976 together with Minister of Justice, Dries van Agt. The Netherlands has since then employed a distinction between hard and soft drugs.^[2]

She also took the leading role in attempting to establish a legal basis for the fluoridation of drinking water. Though fluoridation to prevent tooth decay had been occurring in many areas across the Netherlands for years, the Supreme Court ruled in 1973 that it should be specifically provided for in the Water Supply law. Her bill to do so did not find support in the House of Representatives outside her own party, and was dropped.^[3]

From 1978 until 1979 Vorrink was an alderman in the city of Amsterdam.^[2] A 16 MW nearshore wind farm in the IJsselmeer was named after her in 1996.^[4]^[5]

References

^ "Vorrink, Irene (1918-1996)" (in Dutch). Huygens ING. 12 November 2013. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Mr. I. (Irene) Vorrink" (in Dutch). Parlement.com. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
^ HA Edeler (23 September 2009). De drinkwaterfluoridering : tandartsen, staat en volksgezondheid in Nederland, 1946-1976 (Thesis) (in Dutch). pp. 301–302, 304–306.
^ "Irene Vorrink - Fully Commissioned Offshore Wind Farm - Netherlands | 4C Offshore". www.4coffshore.com. Archived from the original on 29 November 2020.
^ "Great Expectations" (PDF). UK Energy Research Centre. September 2010. pp. 8–9. In 1996, a second and larger Dutch offshore project came online. The IreneVorrink farm had installed capacity of 16.8MW and carried an investment cost of €1.2 million/MW – almost half the cost of the earlier project. Energycosts showed a similarly impressive reduction down to €0.054/kWh