Ciarán Cannon (born 19 September 1965) is an Irish

Fine Gael Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and 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 � ...

politician who has been 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, Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament). It is the equivalent of terms s ...

(TD) for the

Galway East Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city o ...

constituency since 2011. He previously served as a senator for the

Progressive Democrats The Progressive Democrats ( ga, An Páirtí Daonlathach, literally "The Democratic Party" ), commonly referred to as the PDs, was a conservative-liberal political party in the Republic of Ireland. Launched on 21 December 1985 by Desmond O'Ma ...

and was the last elected leader of that party. He served as a

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In ...

from 2011 to 2014 and again from 2017 to 2020. He served as a

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

from 2007 to 2011, after being

nominated by the Taoiseach A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example: * to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs. * ...

. Before entering politics, he was CEO and secretary of the Irish Pilgrimage Trust. In 2002, he was honoured as one of the Galway People of the Year.

Progressive Democrats

As a member of the

, Cannon was elected to

Galway County Council Galway County Council ( ga, Comhairle Chontae na Gaillimhe) is the authority responsible for local government in County Galway, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for housin ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, to represent the

Loughrea Loughrea ( ; ) is a town in County Galway, Ireland. The town lies to the north of a range of wooded hills, the Slieve Aughty Mountains, and the lake from which it takes its name. The town's cathedral, St Brendan's, dominates the town's skyline. ...

local electoral area A local electoral area (LEA; ga, Toghlimistéir Áitiúil) is an electoral area for elections to local authorities in Ireland. All elections use the single transferable vote. The Republic of Ireland is divided into 166 LEAs, with an average ...

, with 1,307 first preferences. He was an unsuccessful candidate at the 2007 general election in Galway East. He was

Bertie Ahern Bartholomew Patrick "Bertie" Ahern (born 12 September 1951) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1997 to 2008, Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1994 to 2008, Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997, Tánaiste ...

to the

23rd Seanad This is a list of the members of the 23rd Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Oireachtas (legislature) of Ireland. These Senators were elected from 24 July 2007 onwards after postal voting closed. The Taoiseach's nominees were announced on ...

in 2007. Cannon was elected as Leader of the Progressive Democrats in April 2008. He was the first leader of the party to sit as a Senator while serving as leader. At his first press conference as party leader, he stated that he believed "there was passion, commitment, talent and knowledge within the PDs' ranks to stage a big comeback". However, after speculation increased that

Noel Grealish Noel Grealish (born 16 December 1965) is an Irish Independent politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Galway West constituency since the 2002 general election. Political career He is from the Gaeltacht region of Carnmore, near G ...

, one of the two Progressive Democrat TDs, intended to leave the party, Cannon announced in September 2008 that a party conference would be held on 8 November 2008, at which he would recommend that the party disband. The delegates present at the conference voted by 201–161 to agree with this recommendation.

Fine Gael

On 24 March 2009, Cannon announced his decision to resign the leadership of the PDs and joined Fine Gael the same day. At the 2011 general election, he was one of two Fine Gael TDs elected in Galway East. On 10 March 2011, he was appointed by the coalition government led by

Enda Kenny Enda Kenny (born 24 April 1951) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 2011 to 2017, Leader of Fine Gael from 2002 to 2017, Minister for Defence from May to July 2014 and 2016 to 2017, Leader of the Opposition fr ...

as Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills with responsibility for Training and Skills. He was dropped as a minister in a reshuffle on 15 July 2014. At the 2016 general election, he was elected to the third seat in Galway East. On 20 June 2017, he was appointed by the minority government led by

Leo Varadkar Leo Eric Varadkar ( ; born 18 January 1979) is an Irish politician who has served as Taoiseach since December 2022, and previously from 2017 to 2020. He served as Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment from June 2020 to ...

as Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade with responsibility for the Diaspora and International Development. He called for a "No" vote in the 2018 referendum to allow legislation on abortion. In 2019, in recognition of his work in education, Cannon was appointed as a UNICEF global champion for education. He is one of seven Generation Unlimited Champions who will advocate worldwide for the development of UNICEF's Gen U programme. At the

2020 general election The following elections were scheduled to occur in 2020. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems maintains a comprehensive list of upcoming elections on its E-Guide Platform. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calend ...

, he was elected to the second seat in Galway East. He continued to serve as a minister of state until the formation of a new government on 27 June 2020.

Personal life

Cannon is a musician and songwriter, and recently collaborated with Irish folk singer Seán Keane and others on songwriting projects. One of Cannon's co-compositions, "Nature's Little Symphony", was performed in Dublin by the

RTÉ Concert Orchestra The RTÉ Concert Orchestra is one of the two full-time professional radio orchestras in Ireland that are part of RTÉ, the national broadcasting station. Since its formation as the Radio Éireann Light Orchestra in 1948, the RTÉ Concert Orchestr ...

as part of the national Cruinniú celebrations on Easter Monday 2017. Both "Nature’s Little Symphony" and another of his compositions "Gratitude" featured on the album "Gratitude" recorded by Seán Keane and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra in 2018. On the 10 August 2018, Cannon played piano with Seán Keane and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra as part of a sold-out performance at the National Concert Hall. In 2019, he composed "An Túr", a short piano instrumental to celebrate the birthday of

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

. In 2021 he was commissioned to compose the soundtrack to a poem by Emily Cullen as part of the national commemoration of the signing of the Anglo-Irish treaty in 1921. Cannon is also an avid cyclist and cycling safety advocate. He specialises in endurance cycling challenges and on 19 June 2021 he cycled Ireland end to end, a distance of 575 km, in 23 hours and 23 minutes, to raise money for charity. On 2 July 2021 he was involved in a road traffic collision and suffered serious injuries. On 2 July 2022 he celebrated the first anniversary of the incident by cycling 500 km around the border of

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

References

External links

Ciarán Cannon's page on the Fine Gael website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cannon, Ciaran 1965 births Living people Fine Gael TDs Leaders of Progressive Democrats Local councillors in County Galway Members of the 23rd Seanad Members of the 31st Dáil Members of the 32nd Dáil Members of the 33rd Dáil Ministers of State of the 31st Dáil Politicians from County Galway Progressive Democrats TDs Nominated members of Seanad Éireann Progressive Democrats senators Ministers of State of the 32nd Dáil Alumni of Trinity College Dublin