- Pádraig Faulkner
Pádraig Faulkner ( _ga. Pádraig Ó Fachtna; born 12 March 1918) is a former senior Irish
Fianna Fáil politician. He was first elected in 1957 as aTeachta Dála (TD) for Louth, serving until 1987. Faulkner also served as Minister for Lands, Minister for the Gaeltacht, Minister for Posts & Telegraphs, Minister for Transport & Power, Minister for Defence andCeann Comhairle .Pádraig Faulkner was born in
Dundalk ,County Louth in 1918. He was educated at Dundalk CBS and St. Patrick's,Drumcondra , where he qualified as a national school teacher. Faulkner grew up in a stronglyFine Gael family inDunleer in South Louth, however, he switched to the more republicanFianna Fáil while he lived with a family when he was at secondary school in Dundalk. He joined Fianna Fáil in his youth and for a time was a member ofLouth County Council . Faulkner unsuccessfully contested the Louth by-election in 1964, and at the 1957 general election he was finally elected toDáil Éireann .In 1965 Faulkner was appointed
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Gaeltacht by theTaoiseach ,Seán Lemass . He was elevated to the Cabinet by the new Taoiseach,Jack Lynch in 1968 and served in every Fianna Fáil led government until 1980. During theArms Crisis he was a Lynch loyalist. He was one of a number of senior TDs who organised the assembly of TDs and Senators inDublin Airport to welcome Lynch home from theUnited States after the defendants had been found not guilty at the Arms Trial. Nine years later in 1979, one of those defendants,Charles Haughey , was elected Taoiseach. Faulkner was retained in the cabinet until 1980 when he was electedCeann Comhairle ofDáil Éireann .Following this appointment he retired to the backbenches before retiring completely from politics at the 1987 general election. In a Dáil career that spanned 30 years his most notable achievements include the introduction of the legislation to establish two commercial semi-State companies,
An Post andTelecom Éireann . Faulkner was subsequently appointed to theCouncil of State by PresidentMary Robinson in 1990.External links
* [http://oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?MemberFirstName=P&MemberName=Faulkner&disp=src Oireachtas Members Database - Profile]
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