William Kelleher (born 20 January 1968) is an Irish politician who has been a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(MEP) from

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

for the

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constituency since July 2019. He is a member of

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil ( ; ; meaning "Soldiers of Destiny" or "Warriors of Fál"), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party (), is a centre to centre-right political party in Ireland. Founded as a republican party in 1926 by Éamon de ...

, part of

Renew Europe Renew Europe (or simply Renew) is a liberal, centrist to centre-right, pro-European political group of the European Parliament founded for the ninth European Parliament term. The group is the successor to the Alliance of Liberals and Dem ...

. He previously served Minister of State for Trade and Commerce from 2009 to 2011 and Minister of State for Labour Affairs from 2007 to 2009. He was a

Teachta Dála A Teachta Dála ( ; ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish language, Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas, the parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The official Engli ...

(TD) for the

Cork North-Central "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

constituency from 1997 to 2019. He was also a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

from 1993 to 1997, having been

nominated by the Taoiseach A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group or election to an office, in which case a ...

Biography

Kelleher was educated at Sacred Heart College,

Carrignavar Carrignavar () is a village in County Cork, north of Cork city. It lies east of Whitechurch and west of the R614 road, by a bridge over the Cloghnagash River. For election purposes, Carrignavar is within the Dáil constituency of Cork North ...

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

and third level at

Pallaskenry Agricultural College Pallaskenry Agricultural College, officially the Salesian Agricultural College, is a private college which provides training for farmers, mechanics and salespeople for the agricultural and farm machinery industries. It is located in Pallaskenry, ...

County Limerick County Limerick () is a western Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Reg ...

. He is married to Liza Davis. They have two daughters and one son. He is a cousin of the late

Fine Gael Fine Gael ( ; ; ) is a centre-right, liberal-conservative, Christian democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil Éireann. The party had a member ...

Liam Burke Liam Burke (2 February 1928 – 21 August 2005) was an Irish Fine Gael politician. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cork North-Central constituency. Burke was elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1969 general election for Cork City North-West. ...

. Prior to entering politics, he worked as a farmer. He was an unsuccessful candidate at the 1992 general election, missing out by 25 votes, but was nominated by the Taoiseach

Albert Reynolds Albert Martin Reynolds (3 November 1932 – 21 August 2014) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach and Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1992 to 1994. He held various cabinet positions between 1979 and 1991, including Ministe ...

to the

20th Seanad The 20th Seanad was in office from 1993 to 1997. An election to Seanad Éireann, the senate of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament), followed the 1992 general election to the 27th Dáil. The senators served until the close of poll for the 21st S ...

in 1993. Kelleher was first elected to

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( ; , ) is the lower house and principal chamber of the Oireachtas, which also includes the president of Ireland and a senate called Seanad Éireann.Article 15.1.2° of the Constitution of Ireland reads: "The Oireachtas shall co ...

at the 1997 general election and retained his seat at the

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

general elections. He was

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

with special responsibility for Trade and Commerce from 2009 to 2011. He previously served as the Minister of State for Labour Affairs from 2007 to 2009. He was previously the assistant

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

Chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom I ...

. Kelleher was the Fianna Fáil spokesperson on Health. He had called for a rise in the legal age to purchase alcohol from off-licences. He acted as Fianna Fáil's director of elections in 2016. In December 1992, lawyers for Kelleher claimed that the election count in Cork North-Central did not select, as required by regulations, votes from the top of each sub-parcel (each parcel having come in to a candidate from a different, earlier candidate). Instead, they argued, votes to be transferred were selected by taking all of the content of a relatively few sub-parcels. In January 2006, Kelleher became embroiled in a minor controversy when he was caught speeding outside

Cashel Cashel (an Anglicised form of the Irish language word ''Caiseal'', meaning "stone fort") may refer to: Places in Ireland *Cashel, County Tipperary **The Rock of Cashel, an ancient, hilltop fortress complex for which Cashel is named ** Archbishop ...

County Tipperary County Tipperary () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary (tow ...

on his way to

Leinster House Leinster House () is the seat of the Oireachtas, the parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Originally, it was the ducal palace of the Duke of Leinster, Dukes of Leinster. Since 1922, it has been a complex of buildings which houses Oirea ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. He was fined and received two penalty points on his driving licence. The misdemeanour was ironic, for it came in a week when the government was coming under fire over poor road safety statistics. He retained his seat at the 2011 general election, though an opinion poll from ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'' had predicted that he was in danger of losing his seat. In 2019, he was elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

as an MEP for Ireland South. Kelleher was a full member of the ANIT committee. In 2020, he asked party leader Micheál Martin to instigate an independent inquiry into the Fianna Fáil party's decline. In 2022, he was one of a number of Fianna Fáil politicians who signed a petition calling the government to expel the Russian ambassador following the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. Kelleher travelled with Fianna Fáil senator

Timmy Dooley Timmy Dooley (born 13 February 1969) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who has served as Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and the Marine and Minister of State at the Department of Climate, Energy and the En ...

to Poland and Ukraine. During their time in Lviv, they met Mayor

Andriy Sadovyi Andriy Ivanovych Sadovyi (; born 19 August 1968) is a Ukrainian politician and businessman who has served as the mayor of Lviv, the administrative centre of the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine, since 2006. He is the former leader of the Self Re ...

and the governor of the Lviv region, Maxym Kozytsky. When asked by

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

how many Ukrainian refugees Ireland should take in, Kelleher said that "Ireland will have to play its part in providing accommodation and lots of it." In March 2022, Kelleher said that Sinn Féin's decision to remove thousands of media statements shows that its position on "major issues have always been wrong. Even they're embarrassed by them." In April 2022, he asked Kerry Group (a company in which he owned shares) to cease operations in Russia. Kerry Group decided to suspend their operations in Russia and Belarus, which was welcomed by Kelleher.

References

External links

Billy Kelleher's page on the Fianna Fáil website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelleher, Billy 1968 births Living people Fianna Fáil TDs 20th-century Irish farmers Members of Cork City Council Members of the 20th Seanad Members of the 28th Dáil Members of the 29th Dáil Members of the 30th Dáil Members of the 31st Dáil Members of the 32nd Dáil Ministers of state of the 30th Dáil Nominated members of Seanad Éireann Fianna Fáil senators MEPs for the Republic of Ireland 2019–2024 MEPs for the Republic of Ireland 2024–2029 Fianna Fáil MEPs People from Glanmire Fianna Fáil local councillors