Liam Cunningham (25 January 1915 – 29 February 1976) 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. He was born in

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconn ...

in 1915. A qualified national school teacher, Cunningham was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil

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 the Donegal East constituency at the 1951 general election. At the time the senior Fianna Fáil TD was

Neil Blaney Neil Terence Columba Blaney (1 October 1922 – 8 November 1995) was an Irish politician. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann in 1948 as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) representing Donegal East. A high-profile member of the party, Blane ...

who would subsequently become a

Government Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, ...

. From 1961 onwards, he was elected for the Donegal North-East constituency. After the events of the Arms Crisis Blaney was sacked as Minister for Agriculture by the

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of 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 legislature) and the o ...

Jack Lynch. In the resulting reshuffle Cunningham was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Local Government on 9 May 1970. This was something of a surprise at the time and was attributed to an attempt by the party leadership to pressurise Blaney within the Donegal North-East constituency. Cunningham remained a Parliamentary Secretary until Fianna Fáil lost power at the 1973 general election. When Blaney launched the

Independent Fianna Fáil Independent Fianna Fáil was a splinter republican party in the Republic of Ireland created by Neil Blaney after his expulsion from Fianna Fáil following the Irish Arms Crisis (1969–1970). The party ceased to exist on 26 July 2006. It was ne ...

organisation, most of the Fianna Fáil public representatives in the area joined the new organisation. Cunningham remained loyal, however, and was comfortably re-elected at the 1973 general election. He remained a TD until his death on 29 February 1976. In a considerable political shock the resulting by-election was won by

Paddy Keaveney Patrick Keaveney (28 October 1929 – 19 July 1995) was an Irish politician and businessman from County Donegal. He was a Cooperative manager and a member of the Independent Fianna Fáil party, and was a Teachta Dála (TD) for one year. He was e ...

of Independent Fianna Fáil.

Sources

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Liam 1915 births 1976 deaths Fianna Fáil TDs Members of the 14th Dáil Members of the 15th Dáil Members of the 16th Dáil Members of the 17th Dáil Members of the 18th Dáil Members of the 19th Dáil Members of the 20th Dáil Irish schoolteachers Politicians from County Donegal Parliamentary Secretaries of the 19th Dáil