John Perry (Irish politician)

John Perry
Teachta Dála
In office
June 2007  February 2016
Constituency Sligo–North Leitrim
In office
June 1997  June 2007
Constituency Sligo–Leitrim
Minister of State for Small Business
In office
10 March 2011  15 July 2014
Taoiseach Enda Kenny
Preceded by New office
Succeeded by Office abolished
Personal details
Born (1956-08-15) 15 August 1956
Ballymote, Sligo, Ireland
Nationality Irish
Political party Fine Gael
Spouse(s) Marie Perry[1]
Children 1
Website www.sligomatters.com

John Perry (born 15 August 1956) is an Irish Fine Gael politician. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Sligo–North Leitrim constituency,[2] and once served as the Minister of State for Small Business.

Perry was born in Ballymote, County Sligo. He was educated at Ballymote National School and Corran College, Ballymote. Perry was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1997 general election for the constituency and retained his seat until his defeat in 2016.[3] In 1997, he became Fine Gael spokesperson on Science, Technology, Small Business and Enterprise, and the Border Counties. In June 2000, he was appointed Assistant Director of Organisation and Deputy spokesperson with special responsibility for Border Issues. He held this post until February 2001.

Between September 2002 and October 2004 he was Vice-Chairman of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications and Natural Resources. He has also served as Chairman of the Dáil Public Accounts Committee. In October 2004, he was appointed to the position as party spokesperson for the Marine, in Enda Kenny's Front Bench. He was demoted from the Front Bench after a reshuffle following the 2007 general election. He was a member of Sligo County Council from 1999 to 2004, representing the SligoStrandhill electoral area.

In July 2010, he was appointed as party spokesman on Small Business.[4] On 10 March 2011, he was appointed as Minister of State for Small Business.

In July 2012 he was the subject of some controversy over his claims for mileage expenses for official duties including a claim for 4,417 km of mileage in a month during which he only had two official appointments and another monthly mileage claim which averaged 344 km per day for every day he was in Ireland. In that latter month he was abroad for 9 days.[5]

On 22 July 2013, Perry and his wife consented to a judgement of €2.47m against them at the Commercial Court over unpaid loans to Danske Bank.[6] In September 2013, Perry confirmed that he had reached an agreement with Danske Bank, in relation to his outstanding loans.[7][1]

He was dropped as a Minister of State in a reshuffle in July 2014.[8] He was reappointed to the Public Accounts Committee in December 2014.

In March 2013, it was reported that Perry hired his wife, Marie, as a Parliamentary Assistant, contrary to government statements on appointments.[1]

In October 2015, Perry was not selected as Fine Gael candidate for the Sligo–Leitrim constituency at the 2016 general election. In December 2015, he took a High Court action against Fine Gael challenging the results of the selection convention. On 22 December, the Fine Gael National Executive announced it was adding Perry to the Sligo–Leitrim election ticket.[9]

He lost his seat at the 2016 general election.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Former minister appoints wife to €38k position". 19 March 2015. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  2. "Mr. John Perry". Oireachtas Members Database. Retrieved 20 October 2009.
  3. 1 2 "John Perry". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 20 October 2009.
  4. "Bruton & Noonan return to Fine Gael frontbench". RTÉ News. 1 July 2010. Retrieved 3 July 2010.
  5. "John Perry’s enormous mileage claims". TheStory.ie. 7 May 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  6. "John Perry's case is "indicative" of many Irish business people, says Taoiseach". Irish Independent. 24 July 2013.
  7. "FG Minister John Perry reaches agreement with Danske Bank". RTÉ News. 3 September 2013.
  8. "Simon Harris among new Ministers of State". RTÉ News. 15 July 2014.
  9. "TD John Perry added to Fine Gael election ticket". RTÉ News. 22 December 2015.

External links

Oireachtas
Preceded by
Declan Bree
Matt Brennan
John Ellis
Ted Nealon
Teachta Dála for Sligo–Leitrim
19972007
With: Matt Brennan 1982–2002
John Ellis 1987–2007
Gerry Reynolds 1997–2002
Jimmy Devins 2002–07
Marian Harkin 2002–07
Constituency abolished
New constituency Teachta Dála for Sligo–North Leitrim
20072016
With: Jimmy Devins 2007–11
Eamon Scanlon 2007–11
Michael Colreavy 2011–16
Tony McLoughlin 2011–16
Constituency abolished
Political offices
New office Minister of State for Small Business
2011–2014
Office abolished
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