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

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 ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , 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

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

Death

On 22 June 2017, Hanafin died at the age of 86.

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