Seán Daniel Treacy (22 September 1923 – 23 March 2018) was an Irish Labour Party politician who served as

Ceann Comhairle The (; "Head of heCouncil"; plural usually ) is the chairperson (or speaker) of , the lower house of the (parliament) of Ireland. The person who holds the position is elected by members of the from among their number in the first session ...

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( ; , ) is the lower house and principal chamber of the Oireachtas, which also includes the president of Ireland and a senate called Seanad Éireann.Article 15.1.2° of the Constitution of Ireland reads: "The Oireachtas shall co ...

from 1973 to 1977 and 1987 to 1997. He served as a

Teachta Dála A Teachta Dála ( ; ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish language, Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas, the parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The official Engli ...

(TD) for the Tipperary South constituency from 1961 to 1997. He also served as a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(MEP) for the

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

constituency from 1981 to 1984.

Political career

Author R. M. Douglas wrote that Treacy was a party member of fringe Fascist group Ailtirí na hAiséirghe during the 1940s. However, by the 1960s Treacy had moved to the ideological left, albeit he was still considered to be socially conservative. Treacy was first elected to the Dáil at the 1961 general election, as a Labour Party TD for the Tipperary South constituency. He was re-elected there in seven subsequent elections, and returned automatically in three more owing to his having been elected by the Dáil as

. He was elected to that office first after the 1973 general election for one term, then after the 1987 general election for three. As Ceann Comhairle, he was a member of the Irish Presidential Commission during the presidential vacancies of 1974 and 1976. He served as an MEP from 1981 to 1984, replacing Eileen Desmond who resigned as an MEP when she was appointed

Minister for Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare spending and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental heal ...

and Minister for Social Welfare. He was expelled from the Labour Party in 1985 for voting against the family planning bill, which would have liberalised the sale of contraception in the Republic of Ireland. He was elected 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 Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

TD at the 1987 general election. After that election, he was elected as Ceann Comhairle by the Dáil. One of his first acts was to exercise his casting vote in favour of the nomination of Charles Haughey as Taoiseach. Treacy retired from politics at the 1997 general election, the only Ceann Comhairle to retire from the position at an election, rather than exercising his right of automatic re-election. He died in

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

on 23 March 2018, at the age of 94. His funeral, which was attended by President Michael D. Higgins,

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 nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Leo Varadkar Leo Eric Varadkar ( ; born 18 January 1979) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 2017 to 2020 and from 2022 to 2024, as Tánaiste from 2020 to 2022, and as leader of Fine Gael from 2017 to 2024. A Teachta Dála, ...

and former Minister Martin Mansergh, was held on 26 March 2018.

References

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