Bernard Durkan

Bernard Durkan
Durkan in 2020
Minister of State
1994–1997	Social Welfare
Teachta Dála
In office June 1997 – November 2024
Constituency	Kildare North
In office November 1982 – June 1997
In office June 1981 – February 1982
Constituency	Kildare
Senator
In office 13 May 1982 – 24 November 1982
Constituency	Agricultural Panel
Personal details
Born	(1945-03-26) 26 March 1945 (age 79) Swinford, County Mayo, Ireland
Political party	Fine Gael
Spouse	Hilary Spence ​ (m. 1983)​
Children	2

Bernard J. Durkan (born 26 March 1945) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Kildare North constituency from 1997 to 2024, and previously from 1982 to 1997 and 1981 to 1982 for the Kildare constituency. He previously served as Minister of State for Social Welfare from 1994 to 1997. He was a Senator for the Agricultural Panel from May 1982 to November 1982.^[1]

He was born in Killasser, Swinford, County Mayo, in 1945. Durkan was educated at St. John's, Carramore, County Mayo.

His son Tim Durkan is a Fine Gael politician having been elected to Kildare County Council in 2014 for the Maynooth electoral area. He retained his seat as a councillor at the 2019 and 2024 local elections.

Durkan took part in a farmer's road blockade protest in 1967 and was imprisoned in Mountjoy Prison and Portlaoise Prison for eight weeks after refusing to pay a £7 10s. fine.^[2]

He was elected to Kildare County Council in 1976 and was a member until 1994, serving as chairman from 1986 to 1987. He was elected to Dáil Éireann for the Kildare constituency at the 1981 general election, but lost his seat at the February 1982 general election following the defeat of the Fine Gael–Labour Party coalition. He was then subsequently elected as a member of the 16th Seanad as a Senator for the Agricultural Panel.

Durkan regained his Dáil seat at the November 1982 general election, and was re-elected at the 1987, 1989, and 1992 general elections. When the Kildare constituency was divided, he was elected at the 1997 general election for the new constituency of Kildare North, and retained his seat at the 2002 and 2007 general elections. He also topped the poll in the 2011 general election.^[3] He was re-elected at the 2016 general election and 2020 general election, retaining his seat on both occasions on the final count.

During his career as a member of Dáil Éireann, he has held several Front Bench portfolios in Fine Gael, including Health, Food, Trade and Industry, Insurance, Overseas Development Aid and Human Rights, and Communications and Natural Resources. He served as Minister of State for Social Welfare from 1994 to 1997.

He currently serves as vice-chairman of the Joint Oireachtas on Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade and as a member of the Joint Committee on European Affairs. He has also previously acted as the chairman on the Oireachtas Committee of European Affairs and a member of the Eastern Health Board. He has also served as Fine Gael Chief Whip. In 2010, Durkan refused to defer the drawing of his ministerial pension while still being paid as a TD. He instead decided to donate this pension to charity.^[4]

In 2023, Durkan called for an inquiry into the usage of parental alienation in family law cases, which he described as a "pseudo-condition".^[5]

In September 2024, he was the oldest TD in the 33rd Dáil.^[6]

He lost his seat at the 2024 general election.^[7]

• Bernard Durkan's page on the Fine Gael website