Liam Cunningham (25 January 1915 – 29 February 1976) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician. He was born in County Donegal in 1915. A qualified national school teacher, Cunningham was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) for the Donegal East constituency at the 1951 general election.[1] At the time the senior Fianna Fáil TD was Neil Blaney who became a government minister in 1957. From 1961 onwards, after constituency boundary changes, Cunningham and Blaney were elected for Donegal North-East.
Liam Cunningham | |
|---|---|
| Parliamentary Secretary | |
| 1970–1973 | Local Government |
| Teachta Dála | |
| In office October 1961 – 29 February 1976 | |
| Constituency | Donegal North-East |
| In office May 1951 – October 1961 | |
| Constituency | Donegal East |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 25 January 1915 County Donegal, Ireland |
| Died | 29 February 1976 (aged 61) County Donegal, Ireland |
| Political party | Fianna Fáil |
After the events of the Arms Crisis Blaney was sacked as Minister for Agriculture by the Taoiseach Jack Lynch. In the resulting reshuffle, Cunningham was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Local Government on 9 May 1970.[2] This was something of a surprise at the time and was attributed to an attempt by the party leadership to pressurise Blaney within the Donegal North-East constituency. Cunningham remained a Parliamentary Secretary until Fianna Fáil lost office after the 1973 general election.[3]
When Blaney launched Independent Fianna Fáil, most of the Fianna Fáil public representatives in the area joined the new organisation. Cunningham remained with Fianna Fáil and was comfortably re-elected at the 1973 general election.[4] He remained a TD until his death on 29 February 1976. The resulting by-election was won by Paddy Keaveney of Independent Fianna Fáil.[4]
Sources
edit- Rafter, Kevin (1993). Neil Blaney: A Soldier of Destiny.
References
edit- ^ "Liam Cunningham". Oireachtas Members Database. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
- ^ "Appointment of Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries – Dáil Éireann (19th Dáil)". Houses of the Oireachtas. 13 May 1970. Archived from the original on 17 February 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
- ^ "Nineteenth Dáil". www.gov.ie. 30 November 2017. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
- ^ a b "Liam Cunningham". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 12 April 2009.