Preceded by Pádraig Faulkner Constituency Dublin Ballyfermot Constituency Dublin South-Central Died 8 March 2013 Resigned February 24, 1993 | Constituency Dublin South-West Constituency Dublin South-Central Constituency Dublin South-Central Succeeded by Thomas J. Fitzpatrick Political party Fianna Fáil | |
Education Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Books Doctor John: Crusading Doctor & Politician | ||
John Francis O'Connell (20 January 1927 – 8 March 2013) was an Irish politician, who was first elected as a Labour Party Teachta Dála (TD) in 1965 and was returned at each election until 1987, latterly for Fianna Fáil after a time as an independent. He served in Seanad Éireann from 1987 to 1989, when he was again elected to the Dáil. He then served until he retired in 1993. He also served as Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann from 1981 to 1982, as Minister for Health (1992–1993) and as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1979 to 1981.
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Early life
O'Connell was born in Dublin and educated at St. Vincent's C.B.S. in Glasnevin and the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin. In 1960 he founded MIMS Ireland, a well-known monthly index of medical specialties, and in 1967 he founded the Irish Medical Times, a weekly broadsheet for doctors.
Political career
He began his political career when he was elected to Dáil Éireann as a Labour Party TD for Dublin South-West at the 1965 general election. He held a seat for the Party until the 1981 general election when he was expelled for refusing to stand in the Dublin West constituency. Instead he stood as an independent in Dublin South-Central, opposing the Labour leader, Frank Cluskey. O'Connell, always a large vote-getter, easily topped the poll and Cluskey lost his Dáil seat.
O'Connell was then elected as Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann, and resigned from the European Parliament, to which he had been elected as an MEP for the Dublin constituency in the first direct elections in 1979. (His election to the first directly-elected European Parliament in 1979, along with running-mate Michael O'Leary, was an extraordinary achievement for the Labour Party.) He remained as Ceann Comhairle until December 1982, being returned automatically in the two elections of 1982. In 1983 he became a member of Fianna Fáil, representing the party until he lost his Dáil seat at the 1987 general election. That year he was one of those nominated by the Taoiseach Charles Haughey to the 18th Seanad Éireann, serving until he regained his Dáil seat at the 1989 general election.
Following Albert Reynolds' resignation from the Cabinet, O'Connell supported him and is seen as one of those who helped persuade Haughey to resign when he did. O'Connell was appointed Minister for Health by Reynolds in 1992. He remained as Minister for Health until 1993, when he resigned from the Dáil and the Cabinet due to ill-health.
Further controversy surrounded O'Connell's relationship with Charles Haughey in later years. It was revealed during the Moriarty Tribunal firstly that O'Connell was the middleman for donations from Arab tycoon Mahmoud Fustok to Haughey; and secondly that O'Connell had invested a significant sum in Celtic Helicopters, a business venture owned by Haughey's son Ciaran.
In the 1970s he arranged a meeting in his home between Harold Wilson MP, then leader of the British Labour Party, and Dáithí Ó Conaill, member of the Provisional IRA army council. Negotiations that night to broker a ceasefire were successful in the short term, but ultimately broke down.