Brian Lenihan, Snr

Brian Joseph Lenihan ( Irish: Brian Ó Luineacháin; born November 17, 1930 in Dundalk, County Louth; † 1 November 1995 in Dublin) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician, Deputy Prime Minister ( Tánaiste ) and Minister several times.

Biography

Lenihan began his political career in 1957 when he was elected a member of the Senate ( Seanad Éireann ). In the 1961 election ( Teachta Dala ) of the lower house ( Dáil Éireann ), he was then elected deputy, where he remained until his death. Lenihan quickly gained within the Fianna Fáil a good reputation due to his easy nature, on the other, because of its good relations with the future Prime Minister Charles Haughey.

In 1964 he was appointed as the successor to Prime Minister Seán Lemass Haugheys of the Minister of Justice and for the first time a member of a government. In his position as Minister of Justice, which he held until 1968, he was responsible for a relaxation of the strict censorship laws. 1968 Prime Minister Jack Lynch appointed him to the then first minister of education before he was 1969-1973 Minister of Transport and Energy. From 3 January to the end of the government Lynch on March 14, 1973 after the election defeat in the general election in February 1973, he was then Secretary of State for the first time.

After re- election victory of Fianna Fáil in the elections in 1977, he was first appointed by the Prime Minister to the Minister of Fisheries Lynch. When his old friend Charles Haughey on December 11, 1979 became prime minister himself, this called him on December 12, 1979 again as foreign minister. As such he remained until the end of Haugheys first term on June 30, 1981 at the office. In brief the Cabinet of Haughey, he was later on March 9 to December 14, 1982 Minister of Agriculture.

After the election victory of Fianna Fáil in the general election in 1987 he was appointed the third Cabinet Haughey on March 10, 1987 for the third time as foreign minister and deputy prime minister at the same time ( Tánaiste ). As foreign minister, he had earned in the experiments to improve relations with Northern Ireland during a crisis-ridden time. He was particularly provide for mediation of disputes between the South and the North of Ireland during the hunger strike, republican prisoners in a British jail in Northern Ireland at the beginning of the 1980s a. On 12 July 1989 he took over as part of a government reshuffle, the secretary of defense, while Gerard Collins took over the Foreign Ministry.

On October 31, 1990, he resigned as Tánaiste and Minister of Defence of the Government of after it had nominated his party as a candidate for the office of President of Ireland. Although Lenihan was considered a favorite and was counted on his victory, he was defeated in the second round just under the current common candidate of the Irish Labour Party and Fine Gael, Mary Robinson. One of the reasons for its defeat was seen seen by policy experts in change in his attitude to the political dispute in 1982.

Despite his defeat, he remained deputy and was primarily involved with foreign and domestic policy issues and was instrumental in bringing about the coalition government of Fianna Fáil and Irish Labour Party in 1992. After his death his son Brian Lenihan took over the junior elected to the House of Commons.

Source

  • Entry on the homepage of the Oireachtas
  • Short Biography on rulers.org
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