Fergus Finlay (born 1 June 1950) is the former Chief Executive of the charity Barnardos in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, leaving the post in 2018. He was a senior member of the Irish Labour Party and is also a weekly columnist with the ''

Irish Examiner The ''Irish Examiner'', formerly ''The Cork Examiner'' and then ''The Examiner'', is an Irish national daily newspaper which primarily circulates in the Munster region surrounding its base in Cork, though it is available throughout the country ...

'' and the author of a number of books. Having worked in government press secretarial roles in the 1980s, Finlay served as an adviser to Dick Spring from 1983 to 1997. During this time he was involved in campaigns that led to the election of

Mary Robinson Mary Therese Winifred Robinson ( ga, Máire Mhic Róibín; ; born 21 May 1944) is an Irish politician who was the 7th president of Ireland, serving from December 1990 to September 1997, the first woman to hold this office. Prior to her elect ...

as president, a large increase in the number of Labour TDs in 1992 and the dropping of the constitutional ban on divorce in 1996. He resigned from Labour in 1997, becoming a director of Wilson Hartnell Public Relations, heading the company's public affairs unit. In 1997 he also started presenting the

Network 2 Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

show '' Later On 2'' with Frank Dunlop former Press Secretary of

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 ...

. In April 2010 the '' Sunday Business Post'' said he is "one of the great backroom operators of Irish political history, a strategist, tactician, and media briefer par excellence." Finlay is also credited with helping to organise the visit of the

Special Olympics Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in 1 ...

to Ireland. In 2009, Finlay was listed in 59th place on a list of "most influential people" in Irish society put together for ''

Village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

'' magazine. On 9 September 2010, Finlay announced that he would seek the Labour Party nomination to contest the 2011 Irish presidential election to elect the successor to Mary McAleese as President of Ireland. Michael D. Higgins eventually won that nomination. Finlay congratulated Higgins on his victory, saying he was "looking forward" to Higgins' Presidency. Gallagher’s uncomfortable,shifty reaction was unpresidential
Fergus Finlay, ''Irish Examiner'', November 1st 2011. Retrieved November 1st 2011. Finlay was awarded an honorary degree by NUI Galway in 2019.

References

Profile from DITSunday Business Post article on Fergus Finlay

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Finlay, Fergus 1950 births Irish columnists Irish male non-fiction writers Irish non-fiction writers Labour Party (Ireland) politicians Living people