MICHAEL BEGLEY: MICHAEL BEGLEY, who has died aged 79, was a former Fine Gael TD who served two terms as a junior minister in the 1970s and 1980s.
He was rarely far from controversy during his career in local politics and in the two decades he spent in the Dáil. However, as a minister of state he always carefully towed the government and party lines.
Begley was first elected to the Dáil for the Kerry South constituency in 1969, from an unlikely base in the then sparsely populated Dingle peninsula.
That geographical base would later work to his favour as an established TD, given that he was the only member of the Dáil based in a community which felt alienated from the rest of a sprawling constituency that also took in Killarney and the Iveragh peninsula.
Begley was born in Dingle in 1932 and educated at the local CBS. He was a carpenter who first came to public prominence through his involvement in the GAA and later said that he joined Fine Gael because “Fianna Fáil had blackguarded the peninsula”.
He cut his teeth in local politics as a member of Kerry County Council in the 1960s, where he frequently clashed with political opponents.
As council chairman in 1967, he walked out of a meeting discussing a plan for the development of the county after a dispute over voting procedures.
His election to the Dáil followed two unsuccessful attempts, in the 1965 general election and in a hard-fought byelection in 1966. The byelection was Jack Lynch’s first as taoiseach and Fianna Fáil, under director of elections Neil Blaney who was then minister for local government, left nothing to chance. Fianna Fáil won after Blaney promised a bridge to Valentia Island from the mainland.
Begley had secured a profile which helped him win a Dáil seat three years later.
He was a fluent Irish speaker and was appointed frontbench spokesman on the Gaeltacht by then leader Liam Cosgrave.
When Fine Gael entered power with Labour in 1973, ending 16 years of uninterrupted Fianna Fáil rule, he was appointed parliamentary secretary (minister of state) to the minister for local government.
Two years later, he was appointed parliamentary secretary to the minister for finance and the minister for defence.
He was workmanlike in those posts, keeping a close eye on how his ministerial position could secure constituency advantage.
When the coalition lost power in 1977, he returned to the Gaeltacht spokesmanship in opposition.
Dr Garret FitzGerald, who had replaced Cosgrave as leader, made Begley minister of state with responsibility for tourism in the FG-Labour coalition which lasted from June 1981 to March 1982. He passed him over for promotion when the coalition regained power in late 1982 after a short-lived minority Fianna Fáil government.
Begley retreated to controversy, becoming increasingly at odds with the party leadership. At a meeting of the Fine Gael parliamentary party in October 1984, he threatened to call on FitzGerald to dismiss the then minister of state for women’s affairs Nuala Fennell.
He claimed she was making comments on controversial issues, such as the threatened eviction of an unmarried mother in Athlone, for political advancement.
FitzGerald and Fennell listened to the criticism in silence.
Begley lost his seat in the 1989 general election, despite the constituency’s solid Fine Gael vote and failed to get into to the Seanad.
He is survived by his wife Eleanor, sons Micheál and Seán and daughter Cathy.
Michael Begley: born, August 22nd, 1932; died, March 26th, 2012.