Brendan Ryan (born 6 August 1946) is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

politician and former member of

Seanad Éireann Seanad Éireann (, ; "Senate of Ireland") is the upper house of the Oireachtas (the Irish legislature), which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann (the lower house). It is commonly called the Seanad or Senate and its memb ...

for the National University constituency. He was an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

senator until 1999, when he joined the Labour Party.

Career

Born in

Athy Athy ( ; ) is a market town at the meeting of the River Barrow and the Grand Canal in south-west County Kildare, Ireland, 72 kilometres southwest of Dublin. A population of 9,677 (as of the 2016 census) makes it the sixth largest town in Kild ...

County Kildare County Kildare ( ga, Contae Chill Dara) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county, ...

, Ryan's political interest arises from his involvement in the 1970s and 1980s with the

Simon Community The Simon Community is a charitable organization, charity which helps homeless people, taking its name from Simon of Cyrene. It was founded in 1963 by Anton Wallich-Clifford who had encountered many homeless people while working for the Probatio ...

, an organisation which works with and for homeless people.

Political career

He was first elected in 1981 to the

16th Seanad This is a list of the members of the 16th Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Oireachtas (legislature) of Ireland. These Senators were elected or appointed in 1982, after the February 1982 general election and served until the close of poll ...

by graduates of the

National University of Ireland The National University of Ireland (NUI) ( ga, Ollscoil na hÉireann) is a federal university system of ''constituent universities'' (previously called ''university college, constituent colleges'') and ''recognised colleges'' set up under t ...

in 1981, defeating Professor Augustine Martin. His election was welcomed by an editorial in ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' as "one of the best deeds in a naughty world". The paper noted that "the graduates of the National University of Ireland, the privileged as many would see them, the people who have had the inestimable gift of university education, gave their vote to a man who had devoted his life wholeheartedly to the Simon Community – Mr. Brendan Ryan". He was a member of the Senate from 1981 until his defeat at the 1993 election to the 20th Seanad. He was re-elected to the 1997 to the

21st Seanad This is a list of the members of the 21st Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Oireachtas (legislature) of Ireland. Unless otherwise indicated, these Senators were elected or appointed in 1997, after the 1997 general election and served unt ...

, and was a member until he lost his seat in 2007. In 2004, Ryan he stood as a Labour Party candidate in the

European Parliament election Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Until ...

for the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

constituency, and in the 2002 general election, he stood in the Cork South-Central constituency. He was unsuccessful on both occasions. In May 2006, he introduced the Genealogy and Heraldry Bill 2006 in Seanad Éireann which aimed to provide a sound legislative basis for the State's delivery of heraldic services.

Academic career

Ryan is a lecturer in Chemical Engineering at the

Cork Institute of Technology Cork Institute of Technology (CIT; ga, Institiúid Teicneolaíochta Chorcaí) was an institute of technology, located in Cork, Ireland. Upon its dissolution, the institute had 17,000 students studying in art, business, engineering, music, dram ...

. In 1995 he wrote "Keeping Us In The Dark", a book concerning censorship and freedom of information in Ireland. He also wrote a weekly column for the ''

Evening Echo ''The Echo'', formerly known as the ''Evening Echo'', is an Irish morning newspaper based in Cork. It is distributed throughout the province of Munster, although it is primarily read in its base city of Cork. The newspaper was founded as a broa ...

'' newspaper.

Personal life

Ryan is a fluent speaker of the

Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Brendan 1946 births Living people Independent members of Seanad Éireann Labour Party (Ireland) senators Members of the 15th Seanad Members of the 16th Seanad Members of the 17th Seanad Members of the 18th Seanad Members of the 19th Seanad Members of the 21st Seanad Members of the 22nd Seanad People from Athy Politicians from Cork (city) Politicians from County Kildare Members of Seanad Éireann for the National University of Ireland