View source for Patrick Cooney

{{short description|Irish former politician (born 1931)}}
{{for|the American politician|Patrick H. Cooney}}
{{for|the American bishop|Patrick R. Cooney}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=June 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image         =
| office        = [[Minister for Education and Youth|Minister for Education]]
| taoiseach     = [[Garret FitzGerald]]
| term_start    = 14 February 1986
| term_end      = 10 March 1987
| predecessor   = [[Gemma Hussey]]
| successor     = [[Mary O'Rourke]]
| office1       = [[Minister for Defence (Ireland)|Minister for Defence]]
| taoiseach1    = Garret FitzGerald
| term_start1   = 14 December 1982
| term_end1     = 14 February 1986
| predecessor1  = [[Paddy Power (Irish politician)|Paddy Power]]
| successor1    = [[Paddy O'Toole]]
| office2       = [[Minister for Transport (Ireland)|Minister for Transport]]
| taoiseach2    = Garret FitzGerald
| term_start2   = 30 June 1981
| term_end2     = 9 March 1982
| predecessor2  = [[Albert Reynolds]]
| successor2    = [[John Wilson (Irish politician)|John Wilson]]
| office3       = [[Minister for Posts and Telegraphs]]
| taoiseach3    = Garret FitzGerald
| term_start3   = 30 June 1981
| term_end3     = 9 March 1982
| predecessor3  = Albert Reynolds
| successor3    = John Wilson
| office4       = [[Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration|Minister for Justice]]
| taoiseach4    = [[Liam Cosgrave]]
| term_start4   = 14 March 1973
| term_end4     = 5 July 1977
| predecessor4  = [[Desmond O'Malley]]
| successor4    = [[Gerry Collins (politician)|Gerry Collins]]
| office5       = [[Member of the European Parliament]]
| term_start5   = 1 July 1989
| term_end5     = 24 May 1994
| constituency5 = [[Leinster (European Parliament constituency)|Leinster]]
| office6       = [[Teachta Dála]]
| term_start6   = [[1981 Irish general election|June 1981]]
| term_end6     = [[1989 Irish general election|June 1989]]
| term_start7   = [[1970 Longford–Westmeath by-election|April 1970]]
| term_end7     = [[1977 Irish general election|June 1977]]
| constituency7 = [[Longford–Westmeath (Dáil constituency)|Longford–Westmeath]]
| office8       = [[Seanad Éireann|Senator]]
| term_start8   = 27 October 1977
| term_end8     = 11 June 1981
| constituency8 = [[Cultural and Educational Panel]]
| birth_date    = {{birth date and age|1931|3|2|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Dublin]], Ireland
| death_date    =
| death_place   =
| nationality   = [[Irish people|Irish]]
| party         = [[Fine Gael]]
| spouse        = {{marriage|Brigid McMenamin|1958}}
| children      = 4
| education     = [[Castleknock College]]
| alma_mater    = [[University College Dublin]]
|}}

'''Patrick Mark Cooney''' (born 2 March 1931) is an Irish former [[Fine Gael]] politician who served as a government minister in the cabinets of [[Liam Cosgrave]] (1973–1977) and [[Garret FitzGerald]] (1981–1982 and 1982–1987). He served as a [[Member of the European Parliament]] (MEP) for the [[Leinster (European Parliament constituency)|Leinster]] constituency from 1989 to 1994. He served as a [[Teachta Dála]] (TD) for the [[Longford–Westmeath (Dáil constituency)|Longford–Westmeath]] constituency from 1970 to 1977 and between 1981 and 1989. He also served as a [[Seanad Éireann|Senator]] for the [[Cultural and Educational Panel]] from 1977 to 1981.<ref name=oireachtas_db>{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Patrick-Mark-Cooney.D.1970-04-14/|title=Patrick Cooney|work=Oireachtas Members Database|date=16 May 1989|access-date=4 November 2012|archive-date=7 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107054238/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Patrick-Mark-Cooney.D.1970-04-14|url-status=live}}</ref>

Cooney was born in 1931 and was educated at [[Castleknock College]] and [[University College Dublin]], where he completed a BA in 1951 and an LLB (Bachelor of Laws) in 1953.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/1286/Patrick%20Mark_COONEY.html|work=European Parliament|title=MEPS – Patrick Mark Cooney|access-date=4 November 2012|archive-date=13 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191213061205/http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/1286/Patrick%20Mark_COONEY.html|url-status=live}}</ref> He first stood as a candidate for [[Dáil Éireann]] in the [[Longford–Westmeath (Dáil constituency)|Longford–Westmeath]] constituency at the [[1961 Irish general election|1961 general election]] but failed to win a seat, and he was defeated again in [[1965 Irish general election|1965]] and [[1969 Irish general election|1969]]. However, after the death of the Fianna Fáil TD [[Patrick Lenihan]], Cooney was elected to the [[19th Dáil]] in the [[1970 Longford–Westmeath by-election|Longford–Westmeath by-election]] in April 1970.<ref name=elecs_irl>{{cite web|url=http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=2702|title=Patrick Cooney|work=ElectionsIreland.org|access-date=4 November 2012|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330205446/https://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=2702|url-status=live}}</ref>

After the [[1973 Irish general election|1973 general election]] a Fine Gael–[[Labour Party (Ireland)|Labour Party]] [[Government of the 20th Dáil|National Coalition]] government took office, and Cooney was appointed to [[Liam Cosgrave]]'s [[Government of Ireland|cabinet]] as [[Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration|Minister for Justice]]. He ordered the coffin of [[Frank Stagg (Irish republican)|Frank Stagg]], an [[Provisional Irish Republican Army|IRA]] volunteer, to be covered in concrete.<ref>''Behind Closed Doors: Cabinet Confidential''. RTÉ. 2 January 2007</ref> In December 1973, the [[Supreme Court of Ireland|Supreme Court]] found in ''[[McGee v. The Attorney General]]'' that marital privacy was protected by the [[Constitution of Ireland]], including a [[Contraception in the Republic of Ireland|right to contraception]]. Cooney proposed the Control of Importation, Sale and Manufacture of Contraceptives Bill 1974, which was defeated in the Dáil on a [[free vote]], with Cosgrave voting against the legislation proposed by a member of his cabinet.<ref>{{cite web |title=Control of Importation, Sale and Manufacture of Contraceptives Bill, 1974: Second Stage (Resumed) – Dáil Éireann (20th Dáil) – Vol. 274 No. 7 |url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1974-07-16/25/ |website=[[Houses of the Oireachtas]] |date=16 July 1974 |access-date=26 December 2022}}</ref>

Cooney was one of several cabinet ministers to lose his seat at the [[1977 Irish general election|1977 general election]] but was subsequently elected to the [[14th Seanad]] as a Senator for the [[Cultural and Educational Panel]]. In 1979, at the [[1979 European Parliament election in Ireland|first direct elections]] to the [[European Parliament]], he stood unsuccessfully in the [[Connacht–Ulster (European Parliament constituency)|Connacht–Ulster]] constituency.

At the [[1981 Irish general election|1981 general election]], he was returned to the Dáil again for his old Longford–Westmeath constituency. Under [[Garret FitzGerald]], Cooney served as [[Minister for Transport (Ireland)|Minister for Transport]] and [[Minister for Posts and Telegraphs]] from June 1981 to March 1982, as [[Minister for Defence (Ireland)|Minister for Defence]] from December 1982 to February 1986, and as [[Minister for Education and Youth|Minister for Education]] from 1986 to 1987.

He was elected as a [[Member of the European Parliament|MEP]] for the [[Leinster (European Parliament constituency)|Leinster]] constituency at the [[1989 European Parliament election in Ireland|1989 European Parliament elections]] and did not contest the [[1989 Irish general election|1989 general election]]. He did not stand for re-election in 1994.

==See also==
*[[Families in the Oireachtas]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{MEP|1286|Patrick Cooney}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before = [[Desmond O'Malley]]}}
{{s-ttl|title  = [[Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration|Minister for Justice]]
       |years  = 1973–1977}}
{{s-aft|after  = [[Gerry Collins (politician)|Gerry Collins]]}}
{{s-bef|before = [[Albert Reynolds]]|rows = 2}}
{{s-ttl|title  = [[Minister for Posts and Telegraphs]]
       |years  = 1981–1982}}
{{s-aft|after  = [[John Wilson (Irish politician)|John Wilson]]|rows = 2}}
{{s-ttl|title  = [[Minister for Transport (Ireland)|Minister for Transport]]
       |years  = 1981–1982}}
{{s-bef|before = [[Paddy Power (Irish politician)|Paddy Power]]}}
{{s-ttl|title  = [[Minister for Defence (Ireland)|Minister for Defence]]
       |years  = 1982–1986}}
{{s-aft|after  = [[Paddy O'Toole]]}}
{{s-bef|before = [[Gemma Hussey]]}}
{{s-ttl|title  = [[Minister for Education and Youth|Minister for Education]]
       |years  = 1986–1987}}
{{s-aft|after  = [[Mary O'Rourke]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{Navboxes|title=Patrick Cooney navigational boxes|list1=
{{14th Government of Ireland}}
{{17th Government of Ireland}}
{{19th Government of Ireland}}
{{Ministers for Education of Ireland}}
{{Ministers for Justice of Ireland}}
{{Ministers for Defence of Ireland}}
{{Ministers for Transport of Ireland}}
{{Longford–Westmeath (Dáil constituency)/TDs}}
{{Members of the 14th Seanad}}
{{Members of the European Parliament for Ireland (1989–1994)}}
{{Fine Gael}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooney, Patrick}}
[[Category:1931 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Fine Gael TDs]]
[[Category:Members of the 19th Dáil]]
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[[Category:Members of the 24th Dáil]]
[[Category:Members of the 25th Dáil]]
[[Category:Fine Gael MEPs]]
[[Category:MEPs for the Republic of Ireland 1989–1994]]
[[Category:People educated at Castleknock College]]
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[[Category:Alumni of University College Dublin]]
[[Category:Fine Gael senators]]
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