Desmond A. Hanafin (9 September 1930 – 22 June 2017) was an Irish
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...
politician who served for over 30 years as a 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 ...
.
(1969–93 and 1997–2002). He opposed social liberalisation, particularly the legalisation of abortion, divorce and same-sex marriage, and was one of the founders of the anti-abortion advocacy group,
Pro Life Campaign
Pro Life Campaign (PLC) is an Irish anti-abortion advocacy organisation. Its primary spokesperson is Cora Sherlock. It is a non-denominational organisation which promotes anti-abortion views, and opposes abortion in all circumstances, including ...
.
Personal life
Hanafin was born in
Thurles
Thurles (; ''Durlas Éile'') is a town in County Tipperary, Ireland. It is located in the civil parish of the same name in the barony of Eliogarty and in the ecclesiastical parish of Thurles. The cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Arc ...
,
County Tipperary
County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after t ...
, in 1930, son of John Hanafin (1890–1953), a draper and newsagent who served for many years as a
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...
councillor for
North Tipperary County Council
North Tipperary County Council ( ga, Comhairle Contae Thiobraid Árann Thuaidh) was the authority responsible for local government in the county of North Tipperary, Ireland. The council had 21 elected members. The head of the council had the ti ...
and previously was a member of the
Irish Republican Brotherhood
The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB; ) was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland between 1858 and 1924.McGee, p. 15. Its counterpart in the United States ...
and an elected
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...
councillor.
He married Mona Brady, daughter of J. P. Brady, on 28 August 1958 in
Clonmel, Tipperary. The wedding was followed by a reception at the Galtee Hotel,
Cahir
Cahir (; ) is a town in County Tipperary in Ireland. It is also a civil parish in the barony of Iffa and Offa West.
Location and access
For much of the twentieth century, Cahir stood at an intersection of two busy national roadways: the Dubli ...
, which was attended by various notables including Rev. Father J. J. Hampson, President of
Blackrock College
Blackrock College ( ga, Coláiste na Carraige Duibhe) is a voluntary day and boarding Catholic secondary school for boys aged 13–18, in Williamstown, Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland. It was founded by French missionary Jules Leman in 186 ...
. Their first child,
Mary Hanafin
Mary Hanafin (born 1 June 1959) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport from 2010 to 2011, Deputy Leader of Fianna Fáil from January 2011 to March 2011, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Inn ...
, was born in June 1959, followed by
John Hanafin
John Gerard Hanafin (born 27 September 1960) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician, who was a member of Seanad Éireann from 2002 to 2011. He was elected by the Labour Panel. Hanafin is the brother of the former cabinet minister Mary Hanafin ...
in September 1960. Mary Hanafin is a former Fianna Fáil TD and government minister,
and John Hanafin is a former Fianna Fáil senator.
Hanafin operated the Anner Hotel, located in Thurles during the 1960s. Initially successful, the business failed in 1967, which Mary Hanafin later blamed on her father's excess drinking. Subsequently, Hanafin was a director of the Transinternational Oil Company.
Political career
Hanafin's first attempt to be elected to public office proved unsuccessful. In 1953, Hanafin sought to be co-opted to fill the vacancy on North Tipperary County Council created by the death of his father, John Hanafin. In the event councillors co-opted a Labour Party nominee, Michael Treacy, by eleven votes to seven.
He was elected a member of North Tipperary County Council in 1955, polling 934 first preference votes. Subsequently, in 1956, drawing support from the
Clann na Poblachta
Clann na Poblachta (; "Family/Children of the Republic") was an Irish republican political party founded in 1946 by Seán MacBride, a former Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army.
Foundation
Clann na Poblachta was officially launched o ...
representatives, he was elected Chairman of the County Council.
In 1957, he conducted a three-month tour of the United States, during which he was commissioned a
Kentucky colonel
Kentucky Colonel is the highest title of honor bestowed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and is the most well-known of a number of honorary colonelcies conferred by United States governors. A Kentucky Colonel Commission (the certificate) i ...
, by then
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
Governor
Happy Chandler. He was also awarded the freedom of
Louisville
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border.
...
, Kentucky, and received by Mayor
Richard J. Daley
Richard Joseph Daley (May 15, 1902 – December 20, 1976) was an American politician who served as the Mayor of Chicago from 1955 and the chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party Central Committee from 1953 until his death. He has been cal ...
of
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, subdivision_name ...
.
Hanafin was re-elected to North Tipperary County Council in 1960, polling 797 first preference votes. In 1961, he voted against the Fianna Fáil nominee for Chair of the County Council, Thomas F. Meagher, and in favour of the Clann na Poblachta nominee, Michael F. Cronin, who was elected by 10 votes to 9. In 1964, he controversially voted in favour of Jeremiah Mockler, "a former school mate", who was elected by 10 votes to 9 to the office of Rate Collector for Borrisokane.
He held the seat until 1985. He was first elected to
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 ...
in 1969 and retained his seat until the 1993 Seanad election at which he lost his seat by one vote.
He regained his seat in the 1997 elections, and in 2002 announced his retirement from politics.
He unsuccessfully contested the
1977
Events January
* January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
* January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...
and
1981
Events January
* January 1
** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union.
** Palau becomes a self-governing territory.
* January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...
Dáil elections for the
Tipperary North constituency.
He was a chief fundraiser of the Fianna Fáil party for many years.
Social issues
Same-sex marriage
In May 2015, he accused Yes campaigners in the
same-sex marriage referendum of spreading a "palpable climate of fear", and called for a No vote.
Divorce
He opposed the legalisation of
divorce
Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...
, which was
introduced in 1995, and attempted to overturn the referendum result in the Supreme Court, but was refused by the court.
Abortion
An opponent of abortion, Hanafin was one of the promoters of
the constitutional amendment that enshrined the legal ban on
abortion
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...
in the
Constitution of Ireland
The Constitution of Ireland ( ga, Bunreacht na hÉireann, ) is the fundamental law of Ireland. It asserts the national sovereignty of the Irish people. The constitution, based on a system of representative democracy, is broadly within the traditi ...
. He was co-founder, chairman
and later honorary president of the
Pro Life Campaign
Pro Life Campaign (PLC) is an Irish anti-abortion advocacy organisation. Its primary spokesperson is Cora Sherlock. It is a non-denominational organisation which promotes anti-abortion views, and opposes abortion in all circumstances, including ...
.
Death
On 22 June 2017, Hanafin died at the age of 86.
See also
*
Families in the Oireachtas
There is a tradition in Irish politics of having family members succeed each other, frequently in the same parliamentary seat. This article lists families where two or more members of that family have been members ( TD or Senator) of either of th ...
*
Pro Life Campaign
Pro Life Campaign (PLC) is an Irish anti-abortion advocacy organisation. Its primary spokesperson is Cora Sherlock. It is a non-denominational organisation which promotes anti-abortion views, and opposes abortion in all circumstances, including ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanafin, Des
1930 births
2017 deaths
Conservatism in Ireland
Local councillors in North Tipperary
Fianna Fáil senators
Des
Des is a masculine given name, mostly a short form (hypocorism) of Desmond. People named Des include:
People
* Des Buckingham, English football manager
* Des Corcoran, (1928–2004), Australian politician
* Des Dillon (disambiguation), sever ...
Irish anti-abortion activists
Members of the 12th Seanad
Members of the 13th Seanad
Members of the 14th Seanad
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
People from Thurles