Pat "the Cope" Gallagher TD
Leas-Cheann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 July 2016
Ceann Comhairle	Seán Ó Fearghaíl
Preceded by	Michael P. Kitt
Minister of State for Health Promotion and Food Safety
In office 20 June 2007 – 6 May 2008
Taoiseach	Bertie Ahern
Preceded by	New office
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Minister of State for Environmental Protection
In office 19 June 2002 – 14 June 2007
Taoiseach	Bertie Ahern
Preceded by	New office
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht
In office 14 January 1993 – 15 December 1994
Taoiseach	Albert Reynolds
Preceded by	New office
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Minister of State for Gaeltacht Affairs
In office 19 July 1989 – 12 January 1993
Taoiseach	Charles Haughey Albert Reynolds
Preceded by	New office
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Minister of State at the Department of the Marine
In office 13 February 1992 – 12 January 1993
Taoiseach	Albert Reynolds
Preceded by	Michael J. Noonan
Succeeded by	Gerry O'Sullivan
In office 12 March 1987 – 12 July 1989
Taoiseach	Charles Haughey
Preceded by	New office
Succeeded by	Michael J. Noonan
Teachta Dála
Incumbent
Assumed office February 2016
Constituency	Donegal
In office May 2002 – 4 June 2009
In office June 1981 – June 1997
Constituency	Donegal South-West
Member of the European Parliament
In office 1 July 2009 – 20 May 2014
Constituency	North-West
In office 1 July 1994 – 30 June 2002
Constituency	Connacht–Ulster
Personal details
Born	Patrick Gallagher (1948-03-10) 10 March 1948 (age 71) Burtonport, County Donegal, Ireland
Nationality	Irish
Political party	Fianna Fáil
Spouse(s)	Ann Gillespie (m. 1970)
Children	5
Alma mater	University College Galway
Website	patthecope.com

Patrick "the Cope" Gallagher (Irish: Pádraigh Ó Gallchóir Cope; born 10 March 1948) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who has served as Leas-Cheann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann since July 2016. He has been a Teachta Dála (TD) since 2016, and also previously between 1981 and 1997 and from 2002 to 2009, currently for the Donegal constituency. He served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1994 to 2002, and from 2009 to 2014.^[1][2]

Background[edit]

Gallagher was born in Burtonport, a fishing port in The Rosses in the west of County Donegal in Ireland. He is the grandson of Paddy 'the Cope' Gallagher, of the Irish Co-Operative movement. He was educated at Dungloe Secondary School – Rosses Community School, Coláiste Éinde in Salthill and at University College, Galway (UCG), where he graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce in 1970.^[3] He worked as a fish exporter until 1982,^[3] becoming involved in local politics in 1979.

Family[edit]

His middle name 'The Cope' refers to his family connection to The Cope agricultural cooperative which operates in The Rosses area of west Donegal. This name is used in his profile on the Fianna Fáil website and on the European Parliament website.^[4] Gallagher was a member of the European Parliament's Committee on Fisheries and also serves as Chairman of the delegation for relations with Switzerland, Iceland and Norway and to the European Economic Area (EEA) Joint Parliamentary Committee.

Gallagher's wife, Ann Gillespie, and her sister, Eibhlin, both served almost 10 years of a 15-year sentence for conspiracy and explosive charges. In 1974, the sisters were visiting a house in Manchester when a bomb being made there exploded.^[5]

Gillespie maintains her innocence, saying police used evidence from a discredited scientist, Frank Skuse, but does not wish to reopen the case. In 2005, Gillespie's solicitor Gareth Peirce stated that she believed the case could have been successfully re-opened.^[5]

Political career[edit]

Gallagher was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1981 general election, retaining his seat until retiring at the 1997 general election. Gallagher was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Marine from 12 March 1987 to 12 July 1988. Appointed Minister of State at the Department of the Gaeltacht from 19 July 1987, serving in that post until 11 February 1992 and again in the same post from 13 February 1992 until 12 January 1993. Appointed Minister of State at the Department of the Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht from 14 January 1993 to 15 June 1994.

In 1994, he was elected to the European Parliament as an MEP for the Connacht–Ulster constituency, and was re-elected at the 1999 European Parliament election.^[6] During his period in Europe, Gallagher was a member of a number of committees including Fisheries, Economics and Monetary and Industry and Energy.

He returned to domestic politics to successfully contest the 2002 general election, and was appointed Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government from 18 June 2002 to 29 September 2004. In Bertie Ahern's cabinet reshuffle in 2004, he received the portfolio of Minister of State at the Department of Environment and Local Government at the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources from 29 September 2004 to 14 February 2006. Following a period in this role, Gallagher was moved to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, as Minister of State at the Department of Transport from 14 February 2006 where he served until 14 June 2007. From 20 June 2007 to 12 May 2008, he served as Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children with special responsibility for Health Promotion and Food Safety. He was not re-appointed to the government after Brian Cowen became Taoiseach in May 2008.

He was elected as an MEP for the North-West constituency at the 2009 European Parliament election.^[7] Immediately thereafter, Gallagher replaced Brian Crowley as the head of Fianna Fáil's European delegation;^[8] this promotion came in the aftermath of Crowley publicly attacking the party's decision to join the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party. Gallagher is a member of the European Parliament's Committee on Fisheries^{[clarification needed]}

In addition to being a serving politician in Europe, he receives annual pension payments of €70,562 a year from his time as a TD and junior minister.^[9] He has stated that he donates the entire amount to charitable causes.^[10]

Gallagher lost his seat at the 2014 European Parliament election.^[11]

In the 2016 general election, after a redrawing of constituency boundaries, he ran alongside Charlie McConalogue as the two Fianna Fáil candidates in the new five-seater Donegal constituency. Gallagher was elected on the 11th count, after McConalogue was elected on the first count.^[12]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pat the Cope Gallagher.

• Official website


• Pat the Cope Gallagher's page on the Fianna Fáil website