Brendan Halligan Explained

Office:Member of the European Parliament
Term Start:March 1983
Term End:June 1984
Constituency:Dublin
Office1:Teachta Dála
Term Start1:June 1976
Term End1:June 1977
Constituency1:Dublin South-West
Office2:Senator
Term Start2:1 June 1973
Term End2:10 June 1976
Constituency2:Nominated by the Taoiseach
Birth Date:5 July 1936
Birth Place:Rialto, Dublin, Ireland
Death Place:Dublin, Ireland
Nationality:Irish
Party:Labour Party

Brendan Halligan (5 July 1936 – 9 August 2020) was an Irish economist and politician.[1] He was founder and president of the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA), a think tank on European and international issues. He was president of the Ireland China Institute, an independent think tank based in Dublin, Ireland, which was officially launched in October 2019.[2] His career spanned Irish public sector bodies and work in the private sector. At various times he was General Secretary of the Labour Party, a Teachta Dála (TD), a Senator, and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP).

Early life and education

Halligan was born in Dublin in 1936. He grew up in Rialto and was educated at St James's Christian Brothers School, Dublin. He studied in Dublin Institute of Technology and became a chemical analyst in the CIÉ depot in Inchicore. He and three friends decided to go to university and formed a co-operative and worked at various jobs in London to fund their studies. In 1959, he began an economics and law degree at University College Dublin. There he was influenced by lecturers including George O’Brien, Patrick Lynch and Garret FitzGerald.[3] He received a master's degree in economics from UCD in 1964.[4]

Career

Following an early career as an economist, working with the Irish Sugar Company until 1967, he became involved in politics. In that year, he became General Secretary of the Labour Party.

The party leader, Brendan Corish, relied on Halligan's intellectual and political skills in his new role. Under Halligan, the party underwent an energetic reorganisation. New structures and policies were put in place, coinciding with the party's leftward policy shift and an acute anti-coalition stance. He strongly supported both approaches, but was instrumental in securing the party's eventual, somewhat unwilling, reversal of its anti-coalition stance after its disappointing result in the 1969 general election. The 1973 general election resulted in a Fine Gael-Labour Party coalition government coming to power.

Halligan was appointed to Seanad Éireann in 1973; three years later, he won a by-election in Dublin South-West, and thus became a TD.[5] After boundary changes, he stood in the new Dublin Finglas at the 1977 general election, but was not elected. Halligan stood again in the revived Dublin North-West constituency at the 1981 and November 1982 general elections, but again was not elected.[5]

He continued to serve as General Secretary of the party until 1980, and was appointed a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1983 until 1984, replacing Frank Cluskey, where he specialised in economic affairs and energy policy.

In 1980, Halligan set up CIPA, his own public affairs consultancy based in Dublin, and became a lecturer in Economics at the University of Limerick. He was also chairman of European Movement Ireland during the late 1980s.[6] In 1985, he was appointed as Chairman of Bórd na Móna, the Irish Peat Development Authority, a position he held for ten years. In 1989 he founded the Institute of European Affairs (IEA), which later became the IIEA.[7] He was Director of CIPA until 2014.

Resulting from his keen interest and experience in energy policy and renewable energy, Halligan served as Chair of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland from 2007 until 2014.[8] He was President of the IIEA, and he was also a Board Member of Mainstream Renewable Energy.[9]

In later years he also worked on the foundation and development of the Ireland China Institute (ICI), which, with its maxim bridging the gap between knowledge and understanding, seeks to strengthen Irish-Chinese diplomatic relations, developing cultural links and fostering a deeper understanding of the respective cultural norms and values between the two nations. He was also President of ICI.

Death

Halligan died on 9 August 2020 after a long illness. On his death, Taoiseach Mícheál Martin described him as “a man who gave his life to politics and the public service with a deep commitment to the institutions of the state”.[10] European Commissioner for Trade Phil Hogan stated that “Brendan was a committed European to his fingertips. He was a pragmatic European intellectual, in the tradition of Spinelli, Monnet and Schuman.”.[11]

Honours and awards

Selected publications

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Brendan Halligan. Oireachtas Members Database. 1 December 2012. 27 June 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180627034622/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Brendan-Halligan.S.1973-06-01/. live.
  2. Web site: Brendan Halligan, President. ICI. 10 August 2020. 7 August 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200807041526/https://irelandchinainstitute.ie/ici-president-brendan-halligan/. dead.
  3. News: Brendan Halligan obituary: Labour politician who had life-long commitment to social justice . 17 August 2020 . Irish Times . 29 September 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200929225603/https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/brendan-halligan-obituary-labour-politician-who-had-life-long-commitment-to-social-justice-1.4329656 . live .
  4. Web site: Laffan . Brigid . Introductory address by Professor Brigid Laffan, Principal, UCD College of Human Sciences, University College Dublin on 13th of December 2010, on the occasion of the conferring of the Degree of Doctor of Literature, honoris causa on Brendan Halligan . 10 August 2020 . 31 October 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191031091714/https://www.ucd.ie/news/2010/12DEC10/documents/brendan-halligan-honorary-degree-citation.pdf . live .
  5. Web site: Brendan Halligan. ElectionsIreland.org. 11 February 2008. 11 September 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20070911005429/http://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?id=3134. live.
  6. Book: Brown . Tony . Vision and Reality: A History of 25 Years of the Institute of International and European Affairs . 2016 . The Institute of International and European Affairs . Dublin . 9781907079221 . 3.
  7. Book: Brown . Tony . Vision and Reality: A History of 25 Years of the Institute of International and European Affairs . 2016 . The Institute of International and European Affairs . Dublin . 9781907079221.
  8. Web site: SEAI Annual Report 2014 . Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland . 11 August 2020 . 3 . "I want to thank my predecessor, Mr Brendan Halligan, for his excellent leadership of the Authority since 2007 and Minister Alex White and his team in the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources for their continued support of SEAI in the delivery of its mandate." . 24 September 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190924070020/https://www.seai.ie/publications/SEAI-Annual-Report-2014.pdf . live .
  9. Web site: Our people . Mainstream Renewable Power . 10 August 2020 . 21 September 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200921194850/https://www.mainstreamrp.com/about-us/our-people/ . live .
  10. Web site: Libreri. Samantha. 9 August 2020. Former Labour Party TD, MEP Brendan Halligan dies. . en. 9 August 2020. 11 August 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200811102725/https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2020/0809/1158181-brendan-halligan/. live.
  11. Web site: Statement by Commissioner Phil Hogan on the death of Brendan Halligan . European Commission . 19 August 2020 . 23 September 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200923091026/https://ec.europa.eu/ireland/news/statement-by-commissioner-phil-hogan-on-the-death-of-brendan-halligan_en . live .
  12. Web site: Archived copy . 10 August 2020 . 20 October 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191020172930/https://www.iiea.com/ftp/News/Legion_d'honneur_Speech_19_April_2016.docx . live .
  13. Web site: Archived copy . 10 August 2020 . 31 October 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191031091714/https://www.ucd.ie/news/2010/12DEC10/documents/brendan-halligan-honorary-degree-citation.pdf . live .