Ben Briscoe

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ben Briscoe (born 11 March 1934) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) for 37 years, representing a series constituencies in Dublin.^[1] In 1988–1989 he was Lord Mayor of Dublin, a post previously held by his father Robert.

Briscoe was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1965 General Election, for the Dublin South West constituency, succeeding his father, Robert Briscoe who had been a TD for 38 years. He was elected at the 1969 General Election for Dublin South Central, where he was re-elected in 1973, and after major bouundary changes for the 1977 election, he was elected for the new Dublin Rathmines West constituency. That seat was abolished for the 1981 General Election, when he was returned for the re-established Dublin South Central constituency, which he held until he retired at the 2002 General Election.^[2]

In the 1992 General Election Ben Briscoe was involved in a marathon recount battle with Democratic Left's Eric Byrne to decide the fate of the final seat in Dublin South Central. Briscoe was declared the victor after ten days of re-counting and re-checking ballot papers. Briscoe is one of the few Jewish politicians in Ireland.