Edward Joseph Bohan (23 November 1932 – 21 July 2019) was an Irish politician and member of the

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christian- ...

party. He was an

auctioneer An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...

and publican, a President of the Vintners' Federation of Ireland, and a chairman of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Licensed Vintners. He was elected to the 18th Seanad in 1987 by the

Industrial and Commercial Panel The Industrial and Commercial Panel ( ga, An Rolla Tionscail Agus Tráchtála) is one of five vocational panels which together elect 43 of the 60 members of Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Oireachtas (the legislature of Ireland). The Ind ...

, and was returned to the Seanad in subsequent elections until he retired in 2007. Bohan was born on a small farm near the village of Drumlish,

County Longford County Longford ( gle, Contae an Longfoirt) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Longford. Longford County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county was 46,6 ...

on 23 November 1932 the third of seven children to James and Bridget Bohan. At age 15 he left for Dublin to join his two older brothers and started working in a grocers shop in the city. As he learned the retail trade he became involved in the confectionery business and by age 19 had a few vans on the road and a small factory producing sweets and fancy goods. At aged 23 he married Elizabeth Lambert from

Rathmines Rathmines () is an affluent inner suburb on the Southside of Dublin in Ireland. It lies three kilometres south of the city centre. It begins at the southern side of the Grand Canal and stretches along the Rathmines Road as far as Rathgar to t ...

and in the 1950s they decided to emigrate to North America, and spent about 6 years living in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

where he became involved with the motor trade, starting off working for Chevron in a gas station and progressing to owning 3 stations of his own. On returning to Dublin, he entered into a new career path by buying his first licensed premises, Bohans of Meath Street. He would go on to buy and run a number of well known Dublin pubs over the years. During this period he became Chairman of the Licensed Vintners Association who nominated him to run for election on the Industrial and Commercial Panel in the 1987 Seanad elections where he won the first of his 5 election campaigns holding a seat for 20 years. In September 2007, his name was published in the Revenue Commissioners' list of tax defaulters after he made a settlement of €2,032,714.

References

1932 births 2019 deaths Fianna Fáil senators Members of the 18th Seanad Members of the 19th Seanad Members of the 20th Seanad Members of the 21st Seanad Members of the 22nd Seanad {{Ireland-senator-stub