Teacher who wore white suit on first day in Dáil

FLYNN BIOGRAPHY:PÁDRAIG FLYNN had his own views on the maxim – "in politics, timing is everything".

Timing was only one part of the mix, he told an academic audience at NUI Galway 18 months ago.

“Personalities” – as in people with his own sort of charisma – were also “essential” for political achievements such as legislative reforms, he said.

Shy and retiring were never adjectives one would associate with the Fianna Fáil TD who made his mark after his election to the Mayo West constituency in 1977 when he arrived at Leinster House wearing a white suit and polka dot shirt.

The school teacher and father of four from Castlebar had served as councillor in Mayo for 10 years, and had supported Charles J Haughey for the leadership of Fianna Fáil in 1979.

He was rewarded with a

junior ministry at transport and power, and recent State papers have shown that he signed a £3.6 million government contract to start development at Knock airport in his own constituency before he left office.

He was given a cabinet seat for the first time in October 1982, when he was appointed minister for trade, commerce and tourism. It lasted a brief few weeks as the government fell the following month. He was appointed minister for the environment after the 1987 general election.

In 1990, he had to apologise to presidential candidate Mary Robinson when he referred on RTÉ radio to her “new-found interest in her family”.

After her election, one of the many messages of congratulation which Mrs Robinson received was from Mr Flynn.

The following year, Flynn supported a motion of no confidence in Mr Haughey and lost his cabinet post.

Mr Haughey’s successor Albert Reynolds rewarded him for his support by appointing him as minister for justice in 1992.

However, he retired from domestic politics the following year to become EU commissioner for employment and social affairs.

Mr Flynn’s confidence on the national airwaves caused him problems once again in 1999, for it was on RTÉ television’s Late Late Show with Gay Byrne that he complained about the difficulties of maintaining three houses, and also asserted that he “never took money from anybody to do a political favour as far as planning is concerned”.

Mr Flynn’s remarks on the show about Tom Gilmartin, in which he indicated that he was

a man “who was not well” and whose wife was not well, marked a turning point in his own career, and in the planning and payments tribunal.

Hurt by the remarks, Mr Gilmartin released details of meetings he had held with Mr Flynn – where the politician asked for a donation of £50,000 for the Fianna Fáil party.

As it transpired, the money was used for Mr Flynn’s own personal benefit paying for a Mayo farm in his wife Dorothy’s name.

After Mr Flynn retired in 1999, his family’s involvement in politics continued with his daughter Beverley, who he described as a “class act”. She caused local rifts within her party when she was expelled in 2004 after a failed libel action against RTÉ.

In the first week of April 2008, Ms Flynn was readmitted to Fianna Fáil, her father appeared before the Mahon tribunal, and they both attended the opening of his first art exhibition.

One floral piece, entitled

The Trial, took seven weeks to complete and was “worth €3 million”, she quipped – as in the cost of her failed libel action.

Opinion Analysis: page 16