Martin Cullen
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Martin Cullen (Irish: Máirtín Ó Cuilinn; born 2 November 1954) is a senior Irish Fianna Fáil politician. He has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for Waterford since 1987 and has been Minister for Transport since 2004. Cullen was previously a member of Seanad Éireann (1989-1992) and has also served as Minister for the Environment, Heritage & Local Government (2002-2004).
Martin Cullen was born in Waterford in 1954. He was educated at Waterpark College and the Regional Technical College, Waterford. He worked as a sales manager for a wine company before becoming interested in politics. Cullen was one of 14 Progressive Democrat TDs elected to Dáil Éireann in the 1987 general election, the first election after the party was founded. During his first period as a TD he served as his party's spokesperson on Tourism, Transport & Communications (1987-1988) and Industry & Commerce (1988-1989). Cullen lost his seat at the 1989 general election but was elected to Seanad Éireann instead. During the intervening period he was elected to Waterford City Council, before returning to the Dáil in the 1992 general election.
The following year Cullen was appointed party spokesperson on Enterprise & Employment. In 1994 Cullen became disilussioned with the new party leader, Mary Harney, when he wasn't allowed stand as a candidate in the European elections. He subsequently resigned from the party, eventually joining Fianna Fáil. In 1997 a Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats coalition government came to power and Cullen was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Finance.
The re-election of the government in 2002 saw Cullen join the Cabinet as Minister for the Environment, Heritage & Local Government. As minister responsible for elections, his department was responsible for the voting system used. When electronic voting was proposed for the 2004 local and European elections, he stood by the proposed system despite opposition from within the Dáil and from some members of the public. When the system was scrapped his reputation was damaged. Arguably more significantly in the long term, he was also the Minister responsible for the Planning and Development(Amendment) Act, 2002. This act amended Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000 to remove the requirement for builders to provide social housing on 20% of their developments. Instead, Cullen's plan allowed builders to subvert this requirement by paying the local council instead and thus ensured that a central motivation of the 2000 Act, namely to avoid run down council estates by integrating public and private housing, was overthrown. As of March 2006 the vast majority of builders have successfully avoided integrating social housing in their new developments and instead opted for making a payment to the local council.
In a cabinet reshuffle in 2004 Cullen was appointed Minister for Transport. Since that appointment he has become embroiled in even more controversy. Two independent reports have cleared him of any wrong-doing in the awarding of lucrative Public Relations contracts to Monica Leech, who subsequently became President of Waterford Chambers of Commerce.
[edit] Political Career
| Oireachtas | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: Edward Collins (Fine Gael) |
Progressive Democrats Teachta Dála for Waterford 1987–1989 |
Succeeded by: Brian O'Shea (Labour) |
| Preceded by: Jackie Fahey (Fianna Fáil) |
Progressive Democrats Teachta Dála for Waterford 1992–1994 |
Succeeded by: Cullen left the Progressive Democrats and joined Fianna Fáil |
| Preceded by: Cullen was formerly a Progressive Democrats member |
Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála for Waterford 1994– |
Succeeded by: Current Incumbent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by: Hugh Coveney |
Minister of State at the Department of Finance 1997–2002 |
Succeeded by: Tom Parlon |
| Preceded by: Noel Dempsey |
Minister for the Environment, Heritage & local Government 2002–2004 |
Succeeded by: Dick Roche |
| Preceded by: Séamus Brennan |
Minister for Transport 2004– |
Succeeded by: Current Incumbent |
