Austin Deasy
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Austin Deasy (b.1936) was an Irish politician. He was a member of Fine Gael, an Irish political party.
Austin Deasy was born in Dungarven, County Waterford in August 1936. He was educated in Dungarven and at University College Cork where he qualified as a schoolteacher. In 1967 he entered politics for the first time becoming a Fine Gael member of Dungarven Urban District Council. He failed in his bids to get elected to Dáil Éireann in 1969 and 1973. However on the latter occasion he was nominated as a member of Seanad Éireann by the new Taoiseach, Liam Cosgrave. He was finally elected to the Dáil in 1977. In 1982 Deasy was appointed to the Cabinet as Minister for Agriculture. He held that position until the collapse of the government in 1987. In 1988 he resigned from the Fine Gael Party in protest against Alan Dukes's 'Tallaght Strategy' in which Fine Gael would support the minority Fianna Fáil government. The following year Deasy tried unsuccessfully to remove Dukes as leader. Deasy returned to the Fine Gael front bench in 1991 after John Bruton became leader. Deasy later resigned again due to the financial difficulties of the Party was facing. In 2000 Deasy introduced a motion of no confidence in Party leader John Bruton. This challenge was unsuccessful but in 2001 Bruton was finally defeated and Michael Noonan became the new leader. Austin Deasy's son, John Deasy, was the Fine Gael spokesperson on Justice, Equality & Law Reform, until being forced, in March 2004 to leave that post after flaunting the new ban on smoking in public places by smoking in the bar of the Dáil. He was appointed Chairman of the Dáil's European Affairs Committee, October, 2004. His nephew Hugh Deasy is the author of a collecion of short stories, political cartoons and other artwork, Grannies and Time Machines, published in April 2005 [1] (http://pabd.com/2005/books/hdeasy).
Political Career
| Preceded by: Brian Lenihan | Minister for Agriculture 1987–1991 | Succeeded by: Michael O'Kennedy |