Brian Lenihan, Jnr

Brian Joseph Lenihan (born 21 May 1959) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician. He is the current Minister for Finance and a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin West constituency.^[1]

Early and private life

Lenihan was born in Dublin in 1959. He was educated at Belvedere College, where he was School Captain (i.e. Head Prefect), Trinity College, Dublin (Foundation Scholar, LL.B. (First Class)), Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (LL.B. (First Class)) and the King's Inns.

He began lecturing in law at Trinity College, Dublin in 1984 and in the same year was called to the Irish Bar. From 1992 to 1995 he was a member of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal and the Garda Síochána Complaints Appeal Board,^[2] and in 1997 he became a Senior Counsel.

Lenihan is married to Patricia Ryan and they have one son and one daughter.^[2]

Early political career

Lenihan is a member of a famous Irish political dynasty.^[3] His father Brian Lenihan was a cabinet minister for over twenty-five years, Tánaiste, and a candidate for President in the 1990 election. His grandfather was Patrick Lenihan who followed his son into the Dáil from 1965 until 1970. Lenihan’s aunt is Mary O'Rourke, a TD for over twenty years and a former cabinet minister. His brother Conor is also a TD and Minister of State. Despite these facts he has said (on "The Week in Politics" RTÉ 8 June 2008) that he resents any implication that he is a member of the political establishment.

Lenihan first held political office in 1996 when he was asked to stand in the Dublin West by-election caused by the death of his father. Noel Dempsey, who was Fianna Fáil's Director of Elections in the contest, did not expect his party to hold the seat.^[4] Lenihan secured 252 more first-preference votes than Joe Higgins of the Socialist Party, and was elected on the 11th count.^[5] Following his re-election at the 1997 general election^[6] Lenihan became chairman of the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution. He served in this position until 2002, when he was appointed Minister of State for Children. He retained the post in 2005 when the government upgraded it to a cross-departmental role allowing all those in government whose job it is to look after the interests of children to work under one aegis. Although not a member of the cabinet, he was allowed to attend cabinet meetings.

Cabinet career: 2007–present

After the 2007 general election Fianna Fáil were returned to power as part of a coalition with the Progressive Democrats and the Green Party. Lenihan was the only Fianna Fáil TD to be promoted to the cabinet, as Minister for Justice, a post which his father had held from 1964 to 1968. They are the only father-son pair to have held that office. He was promoted to Minister for Finance following the election of Brian Cowen as Taoiseach on the 7 May 2008.

Budget 2009

Lenihan delivered the 2009 Budget on 14 October 2008—the budget had been called early due to the worsening economic conditions. The controversial measure of removing Medical Cards from most over 70 year olds (by means testing) caused a massive public outcry.^[7] This caused a backlash against the government and backbench unease; one Fianna Fáil TD, Joe Behan, left the party in protest.^[8][9]

Partial Climbdown

Public outcry meant the government had to twice revise the budget in an attempt to satisfy the pensioners and unions, and indeed the backbenchers. Lenihan was not present at the press conference which included Brian Cowen, John Gormley and Mary Harney to announce the removal of minimum wage employees from the 1 per cent income levy and a promise that 95 per cent of senior citizens would keep the medical card.^[10]

Second (emergency) Budget 2009

On 7 April 2009, Lenihan delivered an emergency budget overriding the measures previously announced, amounting to a further €3.25bn increases in taxes and reductions in spending programmes in the current year, as well as corresponding fiscal changes to future years. Explaining the purpose of the budget changes before the Dáil, he said: "we must stabilise our public finances. Until we show that we can put our own house in order, we cannot expect those who have invested here and who might invest here in the future to have confidence in us".^[11]

Budget 2010

On 9 December 2009, the budget for 2010 was delivered. Called "the harshest budget in decades"^[12], it was marked by pay cuts for the public sector, and social welfare cuts.

See also

• Families in the Oireachtas

References

External links

• Brian Lenihan's official website
• Brian Lenihan's page on the Fianna Fáil website