Michael Ferris

Michael Ferris
Teachta Dála
In office 1989–2000
Constituency	Tipperary South
Labour Party Seanad leader
In office 1981–1989
Senator
In office 1981–1989
Constituency	Agricultural Panel
In office 1975–1977
South Tipperary County Councillor
In office 1985–2000
Constituency	Tipperary
Personal details
Born	21 November 1931 Bansha, County Tipperary
Died	20 March 2000 (aged 68) Lisbon, Portugal
Nationality	Irish
Political party	Labour Party
Spouse(s)	1. Josephine Tobin 2. Ellen Kiely

Michael Ferris (21 November 1931 – 20 March 2000) was an Irish Labour Party politician who served for more than twenty years as a member of the Oireachtas, as both a Senator and a Teachta Dála (TD).^[1] Before becoming a full-time politician, he was secretary to a veterinary practice.

Ferris was a native of Bansha, County Tipperary, and it was here in the 1950s, that he came under the influence of the Very Reverend John Canon Hayes, founder of Muintir na Tíre and adopted many of his ideas for rural development embracing all sections of the community in an inclusive way. He was elected to the 13th Seanad by the Agricultural Panel in a by-election on 23 April 1975. At the 1977 general election, he was an unsuccessful candidate for Dáil Éireann in the Tipperary South constituency, and was also defeated at the subsequent Seanad elections. He was re-elected in 1981 to the 15th Seanad, and returned again in 1982 and 1983.^[2]

At the 1987 general election, he unsuccessfully stood again in Tipperary South, but was afterwards re-elected to the 18th Seanad, again on the Agricultural Panel. In the 1989 elections to the European Parliament, he was defeated in the Munster constituency, trailing far behind his Labour colleague, Eileen Desmond, who narrowly missed a seat. However, polling for the 1989 general election was held on the same day, and he was finally elected to the Dáil, taking his seat in the 26th Dáil on his third attempt. He was re-elected at the 1992 general election and again at the 1997 general election, taking the last seat in each case. He died suddenly while on parliamentary business in Lisbon on 20 March 2000. The subsequent by-election for his Dáil seat was held on 2 June and won by an independent candidate, Séamus Healy.^[3]

Personal life

Ferris championed the rural agricultural economy and was Chairman of the Bansha Agricultural and Industrial Show Society for a number of years. Michael Ferris was married twice, firstly to Josephine Tobin of Bansha, and after her death to Ellen Kiely, of Tipperary.

References

1. "Mr. Michael Ferris". Oireachtas Members Database. Retrieved 24 January 2010.
2. "Michael Ferris". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 24 January 2010.
3. "Tipperary South By-election, 2000". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 1 July 2014.