Martin Mansergh

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).

Dr. Martin Mansergh (born 1946) is a historian and Senator in the Republic of Ireland. He has played a leading role in formulating Fianna Fáil policy on Northern Ireland. Unusually among current prominent Irish nationalists, Mansergh is a Protestant born and raised in England.

Martin Mansergh was born in 1946, the son of the County Tipperary-born historian Nicholas Mansergh. Martin was educated at The King's School, Canterbury and Christ Church, Oxford, where he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics and obtained a Doctorate in French history. He entered the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs by open civil service competition in 1974, and was promoted to the position of First Secretary in 1977. Later recruited by Taoiseach Charles Haughey, he has worked for the Fianna Fáil party ever since, serving under three Fianna Fáil leaders as Director of Research, Policy and Special Advisor on Northern Ireland where he was involved in discussions between the nationalist parties and the Irish Government and met regularly with intermediary Father Alec Reid.

Mansergh was a key member of the teams which formed the Fianna Fáil-Labour coalition in 1992 and the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats coalition in 1997. As a senior adviser to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Mansergh has played a key role in the Northern Ireland peace process over the last twenty years. He ran for Fianna Fáil as a Dáil candidate in the Tipperary South constituency in the 2002 general election but failed to be elected with 5,233 first-preference votes, just under 15% of the poll. However, Mansergh was elected to the 22nd Seanad by the Agricultural Panel in July of that year. He is also a member of the Irish Council of State, having been appointed by President Mary McAleese.

Until 2006 he wrote a weekly column for the Irish Times, giving it up to concentrate on his constituency. The column is now written by Noel Whelan, who is also more sympathetic to Fianna Fáil than most Irish Times writers.

[edit] Further reading

  • The Legacy of History, a collection of Mansergh's speeches and essays, published by Mercier Press.
  • Martin Mansergh - A Biography (2002) by Kevin Rafter.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../m/a/r/Martin_Mansergh_182b.html"