Oliver J. Flanagan (22 May 1920 – 26 April 1987) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served in Dáil Éireann for 43 years and was Minister for Defence for six months. He was elected to the Dáil fourteen times between 1943 and 1982, topping the poll on almost every occasion. He was Father of the Dáil from 1981 until his retirement in 1987, and he remains one of the longest-serving members in the history of the Dáil.
Flanagan was a social conservative, who famously claimed that "there was no sex in Ireland before television". A notorious anti-semite early in his career, he used his maiden speech in the Dáil, on 9 July 1943, to urge the government to "rout the Jews out of this country".
Nonetheless, he was consistently popular in his own constituency, largely because of the attention he paid to individual voters' petitions and concerns. He has been described as "one of the cutest of cute hoors in the history of the Dáil".
Read more about Oliver J. Flanagan: Personal Life, Independent TD (1943–1954), Fine Gael TD (1954–1987)
Famous quotes containing the word oliver:
““A man,” said Oliver Cromwell, “never rises so high as when he knows not whither he is going.” Dreams and drunkenness, the use of opium and alcohol are the semblance and counterfeit of this oracular genius, and hence their dangerous attraction for men. For the like reason they ask the aid of wild passions, as in gaming and war, to ape in some manner these flames and generosities of the heart.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)