DESPITE HAVING played against Enda Kenny on the Gaelic football field, the incoming Cathaoirleach (chair) of Seanad Éireann, Paddy Burke, is one of the Taoiseach’s closest allies and associates.
They both hail from the area around Castlebar in Co Mayo, but Kenny is from the village of Islandeady whereas Burke’s origins are in Ballyglass and they ended up playing on rival club teams.
Burke was born into Ballyglass and he was also born into Fine Gael. Like his father and grandfather before him, he became a member of Mayo County Council. He was first elected to the Seanad on the Agricultural Panel in 1993 and re-elected ever since. When he had to give up his council seat in 2003, following the abolition of the dual mandate, he was succeeded on the local authority by his brother Cyril.
“He’s an extremely shrewd politician who can weigh up situations very well. He’s also a very loyal guy, and loyalty is a big thing to the Taoiseach,” said a political associate last night.
As a committed Fine Gael activist in Kenny’s political heartland he is credited, along with the likes of director of elections Michael Sloyan, with contributing to the party’s success in winning four out of five Dáil seats in the general election.
He became leas-chathaoirleach (deputy chair) of the Seanad in 2002 and was re-elected in 2007. He vindicated his reputation for tolerance on his first day as Cathaoirleach as he allowed speakers to ramble on in a manner that did little to enhance the future prospects of the upper house.
Senators on all sides yesterday described the new Cathaoirleach as a “gentleman” and his ability to make friends with all shades of the political spectrum has stood him in good stead at election time.
With his wife Dolores, he runs a coffee-shop-cum-restaurant called The Kittyhawk in Castlebar’s Shambles Street.
Paddy Burke played on the Mayo Gaelic football team at under-21 level in the 1970s and is reputed to be “a very good golfer”.
DEAGLÁN DE BRÉADÚN
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