Fergus O'Dowd

Fergus O'Dowd TD
O'Dowd in 2013

Minister of State for the NewEra Project
In office 10 March 2011 – 15 July 2014
Taoiseach	Enda Kenny
Preceded by	New office
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Teachta Dála
Incumbent
Assumed office May 2002
Constituency	Louth
Senator
In office September 1997 – May 2002
Constituency	Administrative Panel
Personal details
Born	(1948-09-01) 1 September 1948 Thurles, Tipperary, Ireland
Nationality	Irish
Political party	Fine Gael
Spouse(s)	Agnes O'Dowd
Children	3

Fergus O'Dowd (born 1 September 1948) is an Irish Fine Gael politician. He is a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Louth constituency,^[1] and previously served as the Minister of State for the NewEra Project.^[2]

O'Dowd was born in Thurles, County Tipperary. He was educated by the Christian Brothers in Drogheda, County Louth. He currently lives in the town. He served three terms as Chairman of Drogheda Town Council: 1977–78, 1981–82 and 1994–95. He served on Louth County Council between 1979 and 2003.

O'Dowd is married to Agnes O'Dowd and they have three sons. He is a brother of Niall O'Dowd, publisher of the Irish Voice newspaper in New York City.^[3] Another brother, Michael O'Dowd, ran against him for Renua at the 2016 general election.^[4] Yet another brother lives in France.^[5]

A teacher before entering politics, O'Dowd was elected to Seanad Éireann on the Administrative Panel in 1997. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 2002 general election, on his fourth attempt.^[6] He was immediately appointed Fine Gael spokesperson for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. He was party spokesperson on Environment, Heritage and Local Government from 2004 to 2007, and on Transport and Marine from 2007 to 2010. In June 2010, he supported Richard Bruton's leadership challenge to Enda Kenny. Following Kenny's victory in a motion of confidence, O'Dowd was appointed as party spokesperson on Education and Skills.^[7]

On 10 March 2011, he was appointed as Minister of State for the NewEra Project.^[2] He was dropped as a Minister of State in a reshuffle in July 2014.^[8]

References

↑ "Mr. Fergus O'Dowd". Oireachtas Members Database. Retrieved 12 October 2009.
1 2 Government economic stimulus plan
↑ "Drumm says words taken out of context". Sunday Independent. 30 June 2013.
↑ "A Fine Gael TD is being challenged by his own brother: Michael O'Dowd is running for Renua against his brother, former minister Fergus O'Dowd". TheJournal.ie. 28 September 2015.
↑ O'Dowd, Fergus. Tonight with Vincent Browne. 22 March 2016.
↑ "Fergus O'Dowd". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 12 October 2009.
↑ "Bruton & Noonan return to Fine Gael frontbench". RTÉ News. 1 July 2010. Retrieved 3 July 2010.
↑ "Simon Harris among new Ministers of State". RTÉ News. 15 July 2014.

External links

Fergus O'Dowd's page on the Fine Gael website

Oireachtas
Preceded by Brendan McGahon (Fine Gael)	Fine Gael Teachta Dála for Louth 2002–present	Incumbent
Political offices
New office	Minister of State for the NewEra Project 2011–2014	Succeeded by Office abolished

Current members of Dáil Éireann

As elected to the 32nd Dáil in 2016 Ceann Comhairle: Seán Ó Fearghaíl

Fine Gael (50)	Bailey Barrett Breen Brophy Bruton Burke C. Byrne Cannon Carey Corcoran Kennedy Coveney Creed J. Daly D'Arcy Deasy Deering R. Doherty Donohoe Doyle Durkan English Farrell Fitzgerald Fitzpatrick Flanagan Griffin Harris Heydon Humphreys Kehoe E. Kenny§ Kyne Madigan McEntee McHugh McLoughlin Mitchell O'Connor D. Murphy Eoghan Murphy H. Naughton Neville Noonan O'Connell O'Donovan O'Dowd Phelan Ring Rock Stanton Varadkar

Fianna Fáil (43)	Aylward Brassil Breathnach Browne Butler T. Byrne Cahill Calleary Casey Cassells L. Chambers J. Chambers N. Collins Cowen Curran Dooley Fleming Gallagher Haughey Kelleher Lahart Lawless M. Martin§ McConalogue Michael McGrath McGuinness A. Moynihan M. Moynihan Murphy O'Mahony Eugene Murphy D. O'Brien O'Callaghan Ó Cuív O'Dea O'Keeffe O'Loughlin O'Rourke Rabbitte Scanlon Brendan Smith Smyth Troy

Sinn Féin (23)	Adams§ Brady Buckley Crowe Cullinane P. Doherty Ellis M. Ferris Funchion M. Kenny McDonald Mitchell Munster Nolan J. O'Brien Ó Broin Ó Caoláin Ó Laoghaire O'Reilly Ó Snodaigh Quinlivan Stanley Tóibín

Labour Party (7)	Burton Howlin§ Kelly J. O'Sullivan Penrose B. Ryan Sherlock

AAA–PBP (6)	Barry Boyd Barrett Coppinger G. Kenny P. Murphy Bríd Smith

Independents 4 Change (4)	Broughan J. Collins C. Daly Wallace

Green Party (2)	C. Martin E. Ryan§

Social Democrats (2)	C. Murphy§ Shortall§

Workers and Unemployed Action (1)	Healy§

Independent (19)	Canney^† M. Collins Connolly Donnelly Fitzmaurice^† Grealish Halligan^† Harty D. Healy-Rae M. Healy-Rae Lowry F. McGrath^† Mattie McGrath Moran^† D. Naughten M. O'Sullivan Pringle Ross^† Zappone

§Party leaders Italics = Ministers ^†Ind. Alliance

« 20th Seanad « Members of the 21st Seanad Éireann (1997–2002) » 22nd Seanad »

Cathaoirleach Brian Mullooly (FF) Leader of the Seanad Donie Cassidy (FF)

Administrative Panel	Fintan Coogan, Jnr (FG) Joe Costello (Lab) Joe Doyle (FG) Michael Finneran (FF) Camillus Glynn (FF) Tony Kett (FF) Fergus O'Dowd (FG)

Agricultural Panel	Paddy Burke (FG) Peter Callanan (FF) John Connor (FG) Avril Doyle (FG) Tom Hayes (FG) Rory Kiely (FF) Patrick McGowan (FF) Pat Moylan (FF) Francis O'Brien (FF) Kathleen O'Meara (Lab) Jim Walsh (FF)

Cultural and Educational Panel	Maurice Manning (FG) Paschal Mooney (FF) Labhrás Ó Murchú (FF) Ann Ormonde (FF) Madeleine Taylor-Quinn (FG)

Industrial and Commercial Panel	Eddie Bohan (FF) Ernie Caffrey (FG) Paul Coghlan (FG) Liam T. Cosgrave (FG) Margaret Cox (FF) William Farrell (FF) Pat Gallagher (Lab) Mick Lanigan (FF) Denis O'Donovan (FF)

Labour Panel	Donie Cassidy (FF) Denis Cregan (FG) Liam Fitzgerald (FF) Des Hanafin (FF) Mary Jackman (FG) Dan Kiely (FF) Don Lydon (FF) Jarlath McDonagh (FG) Brian Mullooly (FF) Therese Ridge (FG) Seán Ryan (Lab)

National University of Ireland	Joe O'Toole (Ind) Feargal Quinn (Ind) Brendan Ryan (Ind)

University of Dublin	Mary Henry (Ind) David Norris (Ind) Shane Ross (Ind)

Nominated by the Taoiseach	Enda Bonner (FF) Frank Chambers (FF) John Dardis (PD) Tom Fitzgerald (FF) Dermot Fitzpatrick (FF) Jim Gibbons, Jnr (PD) Edward Haughey (FF) Maurice Hayes (Ind) Helen Keogh (PD) Ann Leonard (FF) Máirín Quill (PD)

Elected or nominated later	1998 John Cregan (FF) 2001 M. J. Nolan (FF) 2000 Seán Ó Fearghaíl (FF) Jim Glennon (FF) 2002 Martin Mackin (FF) Mary O'Rourke (FF)

FF: Fianna Fáil FG: Fine Gael Lab: Labour Party PD: Progressive Democrats Ind: Independent

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