Liam Skelly (born 10 October 1941) is an Irish barrister, businessman and former politician from

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. He was a

Teachta Dála A Teachta Dála ( , ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament). It is the equivalent of terms such as ''Member of Parli ...

(TD) for

Dublin West Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 cens ...

from 1982 to 1987.

Dublin West by-election

Richard Burke, the

Fine Gael Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil � ...

TD for Dublin West, resigned his seat on 30 March 1982 to take up an appointment as Ireland's

European Commissioner A European Commissioner is a member of the 27-member European Commission. Each member within the Commission holds a specific portfolio. The commission is led by the President of the European Commission. In simple terms they are the equivalent ...

. Burke's appointment by the Taoiseach Charles Haughey was seen as a political "stroke". The appointment was in the gift of the

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

, and all previous appointments had been from the governing party, but Haughey's government did not have a majority in

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland read ...

, and could ill-afford to risk losing a seat in the

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

which would result from appointing 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 Christian- ...

TD. Burke had been a Commissioner from 1977 to 1981, and had returned to the Dáil at the 1981 general election. The Dublin West seat was seen as winnable for Fianna Fáil, and Haughey's appointment of Burke raised the prospect of Fianna Fáil gaining a seat rather than losing one. In selecting a candidate, Fine Gael cast its net outside its own ranks, and chose Skelly, a businessman who had not previously been a member of a political party. After a closely fought campaign, Skelly won the Dublin West by-election on 25 May 1982.

Eileen Lemass Eileen Lemass (; born 7 July 1932) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician, who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1977 to 1987, and also as a member of the European Parliament from 1984 to 1989. Early life and education She was born in Co ...

, contesting for Fianna Fáil, and who had been a TD for Dublin West until her defeat at the February 1982 general election, received more first-preference votes but Skelly won the seat on transfers.

In the Dáil

Skelly was re-elected at the November 1982 general election, but found himself increasingly out of step with the direction taken by the government, and clashed with the leadership and with the constituency organisation. At the 1987 general election, he sought the Fine Gael nomination but was not selected. He contested the election as 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 ...

for the rest of the

24th Dáil Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

, but won only 3.4% of the first-preference votes and lost his seat.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skelly, Liam 1941 births Living people Businesspeople from County Dublin Fine Gael TDs Independent TDs Irish barristers Members of the 23rd Dáil Members of the 24th Dáil Politicians from County Dublin