Liam Ahern

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Liam Ahern (12th January 1916 – 13th July 1974), also known as William Ahern, was an Irish Fianna Fáil Party politician who served in both Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann.

A farmer and agricultural contractor,^{[citation needed]} Ahern was first elected to the 9th Seanad in 1957 on the Labour Panel. In 1961, he was returned to the 10th Seanad on the Administrative Panel, and re-elected by the same panel to the 11th Seanad in 1965.

At the 1969 general election, he stood for election to the 19th Dáil in the constituency of Cork North East, but was narrowly beaten by his Fianna Fáil colleague, Seán Brosnan [1]. After his defeat, Ahern was returned to the 12th Seanad by the Administrative Panel.

At the 1973 general election, he again contested Cork North-East, where he came fourth out of the four successful candidates[2], unseating the sitting Fianna Fáil TD Seán Brosnan. A Fine Gael-Labour coalition government under Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave took power at that election, ending a sixteen-year period of Fianna Fáil government, and Ahern found himself in opposition for the first time in his career in the Oireachtas.

He died in July 1974 at the age of 58, triggering a by-election on 13th November in which his seat was retained for Fianna Fáil by Seán Brosnan.