Pádraig Faulkner

Pádraig Faulkner (12 March 1918 – 1 June 2012) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann from 1980 to 1981, Minister for Defence 1979 to 1980, Minister for Posts and Telegraphs and Minister for Tourism and Transport from 1977 to 1979, Minister for Education from 1969 to 1973, Minister for the Gaeltacht and Minister for Lands from 1968 to 1969 and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Gaeltacht from 1965 to 1968.

He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Louth constituency from 1957 to 1987. Faulkner was born in Dundalk, County Louth, in 1918. He was educated at Dundalk CBS and St Patrick's College of Education in Drumcondra, Dublin, where he qualified as a national school teacher. Faulkner grew up in Dunleer in south Louth, where his father was a strong supporter of Fine Gael, while his mother supported the more Republican and working-class Fianna Fáil. He favoured his mother's political outlook and joined Fianna Fáil.

Faulkner unsuccessfully contested the Louth by-election in 1954 but at the 1957 general election, he was elected to Dáil Éireann winning a second seat for the party with Frank Aiken as they returned to Government. In 1965, Faulkner was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Gaeltacht by the Taoiseach, Seán Lemass. He was appointed to the Cabinet by the new Taoiseach Jack Lynch in 1968 and served in every Fianna Fáil-led government until 1980. During the Arms Crisis he was a Lynch loyalist.