Jim Walsh (Irish Politician)
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Jim Walsh (born 5 May 1947) is an Irish former
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 ...
politician and member of
Seanad Éireann Seanad Éireann ( ; ; "Senate of Ireland") is the senate of the Oireachtas (the Irish legislature), which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann (defined as the house of representatives). It is commonly called the Seanad or ...
from 1997 to 2016.


Early and personal life

Walsh is a native of
New Ross New Ross (, formerly ) is a town in southwest County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, on the River Barrow on the border with County Kilkenny, northeast of Waterford. In 2022, it had a population of 8,610, making it the fourth-largest t ...
,
County Wexford County Wexford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was ba ...
. Walsh attended New Ross Christian Brothers School. He is married to Marie Furlong, they have one son and two daughters. Outside of his Seanad duties, he works as a businessman and company director. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Transport, a Senator of
Junior Chamber International Junior Chamber International, commonly referred to as JCI, is a non-profit international non-governmental organization of young people between and years old. It has members in about 127 countries, and regional or national organizations in mo ...
and is a former president of the Irish Road Hauliers' Association.


Political career

He was elected in 1974 to New Ross
Town Council A town council, city council or municipal council is a form of local government for small municipalities. Usage of the term varies under different jurisdictions. Republic of Ireland In 2002, 49 urban district councils and 26 town commissi ...
, serving as Mayor for nine terms and a member of
Wexford County Council Wexford County Council () is the local authority of County Wexford, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for housing and community, roads and transportation, urban planning an ...
from 1979 to 2004, serving as Mayor from 1992 to 1993. Walsh was National Chairman of the Irish Local Authority Members Association from 1997 to 2002. In 1997, he was first elected to
Seanad Éireann Seanad Éireann ( ; ; "Senate of Ireland") is the senate of the Oireachtas (the Irish legislature), which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann (defined as the house of representatives). It is commonly called the Seanad or ...
by the
Agricultural Panel The Agricultural Panel is one of five vocational panels which together elect 43 of the 60 members of Seanad Éireann, the senate of the Oireachtas (the legislature of Ireland). The Agricultural Panel elects eleven senators. Election Article 18 ...
. From 1997 to 2002, he served as government spokesman on Environment and Local Government in the Seanad. In subsequent terms he served as government spokesperson on Justice, Equality, and Law Reform between 2002 and 2007, and Communications, Energy, and Natural resources from 2007 to 2011. He is the Fianna Fáil Seanad spokesman on Foreign Affairs and Trade and a member of the Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee. He is a board member of
Parliamentarians for Global Action Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) is a non-profit, non-partisan international network of committed legislators, that informs and mobilizes parliamentarians in all regions of the world to advocate for human rights and the rule of law, de ...
, a New York-based non-governmental organization dealing with peace, democracy, human rights and the rules of law. He is also a member of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE (OSCE PA) is an institution of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. The primary task of the 323-member Assembly is to facilitate inter-parliamentary dialogue, an important aspect of the o ...
(OSCE) as well as being a member of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly and a participant in the International Catholic Legislator's Network since its inauguration. Walsh has fulfilled a number of international speaking invitations in recent years. In 2011 he was invited to address a conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka on the Northern Ireland peace process. At the invitation of the Pontifical Council for the Family he read a paper on the topic of "The Family" at the World Meeting of Families in Milan, May 2012. At the PGA Conference in Bogota, Colombia, December 2013 he addressed the subject of "Disarmament and Decommissioning—The Northern Ireland Experience and its Relevance for Colombia".


Tribunals

In April 2008, Walsh claimed "that Chairmen of some of the
tribunal A tribunal, generally, is any person or institution with authority to judge, adjudicate on, or determine claims or disputes—whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title. For example, an advocate who appears before a court with a singl ...
s used their position in order to act more or less as
shop stewards A union representative, union steward, or shop steward is an employee of an organization or company who represents and defends the interests of their fellow employees as a trades/labour union member and official. Rank-and-file members of the un ...
for the wealthy
legal profession Legal profession is a profession in which legal professionals study, develop and apply law. Usually, there is a requirement for someone choosing a career in law to first pass a bar examination after obtaining a law degree or some other form of l ...
". He later withdrew the comment, acknowledging that he may have caused offence.


Civil partnership legislation

On 24 April 2008, Walsh put forward a party
motion In physics, motion is when an object changes its position with respect to a reference point in a given time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed, and frame of reference to an o ...
to counter the proposed same-sex Civil Partnership Bill. ''
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 ...
'' reported that around 30 unidentified Fianna Fáil
backbencher In Westminster system, Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no Minister (government), governmental office and is not a Frontbencher, frontbench spokesperson ...
s had signed the motion. One anonymous Senator was quoted as claiming that the motion "would have considerable support from the more conservative sections of the
parliamentary party A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller political parties, who a ...
". The
Taoiseach The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...
,
Brian Cowen Brian Bernard Cowen (born 10 January 1960) is an Irish former politician who served as Taoiseach and Leader of Fianna Fáil from 2008 to 2011. Cowen served as a TD for the constituency of Laois–Offaly from 1984 to 2011 and served in several ...
, responded by insisting that the registration of same-sex couples would not interfere with the
constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...
status of marriage. Cowen noted that the Bill had been drawn up in close consultation with the
Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...
and had been included in the programme for government. The motion was referred to the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party's justice committee on 1 July 2008. Despite the challenge to the Bill, a Fianna Fáil spokesperson was quoted as saying that there was "broad support" within the party for the legislation, while the Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Dermot Ahern reaffirmed the constitutional compatibility of the proposed law. Walsh has repeatedly called for a "freedom of conscience" amendment to the legislation which would bypass equality legislation, allowing people a religious exemption in providing goods and services to gay couples. In the 2014 "Pantigate" controversy in which the national broadcaster
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, ...
paid a purported €85,000 to conservative commentators, Walsh argued that some proponents of same-sex marriage were "dangerous and vicious". On 31 March 2015, he said in the Seanad that he could not support same-sex marriage and that the money spent on the marriage equality referendum would be better spent on testing the gay community for
HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...
.


Views

In November 2009, Walsh claimed that women working outside the home is a major cause of depression in young people, and also expressed annoyance that " David Norris could describe gay people as 'fairies' – while he could not". On 7 July 2010, he resigned the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party
whip A whip is a blunt weapon or implement used in a striking motion to create sound or pain. Whips can be used for flagellation against humans or animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain, or be used as an audible cue thro ...
, along with Labhrás Ó Murchú and John Hanafin, in protest at the Civil Partnership bill. He rejoined the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party on 23 November 2010. On 16 July 2013, Walsh opposed the '' Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill'', and during the Seanad debate quoted an anti-abortion pamphlet's description of
dilation and evacuation Dilation and evacuation (D&E) or dilatation and evacuation (British English) is the dilation of the cervix and surgical evacuation of the uterus (potentially including the fetus, placenta and other tissue) after the first trimester of pregnancy. I ...
, which the bill's supporters criticised as inappropriate. In December 2015, in an abortion-related debate, Walsh told Senator
Ivana Bacik Ivana Catherine Bacik () (born 25 May 1968) is an Irish politician who has been the Leader of the Labour Party (Ireland), Leader of the Labour Party (Ireland), Labour Party since 24 March 2022 and a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Bay South ...
that she should seek "treatment for hemorrhoids". In January 2016, he was re-admitted to the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party. He did not contest the 2016 Seanad election.


Wikipedia editing

In September 2015, Walsh admitted editing his own Wikipedia entry, claiming it had been edited by "a person from the gay lobby groups". He said that he had removed "certain erroneous comments" but did not say which edits he made or what was erroneous. T.J. McIntyre, a law lecturer at
University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...
drew attention to edits made from an
IP address An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label such as that is assigned to a device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. IP addresses serve two main functions: network interface i ...
belonging to the
Oireachtas The Oireachtas ( ; ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of the president of Ireland and the two houses of the Oireachtas (): a house ...
. Edits made from that address included removal of controversial comments made by the former senator about gay people and the Marriage Equality referendum.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, Jim 1947 births Living people Conflict-of-interest editing on Wikipedia Fianna Fáil senators 20th-century Irish farmers Members of Wexford County Council Members of the 21st Seanad Members of the 22nd Seanad Members of the 23rd Seanad Members of the 24th Seanad Independent members of Seanad Éireann Agricultural Panel senators