Frank Fahey

Frank Fahey (born 6 June 1951) is an Irish property developer and former Fianna Fáil politician. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Galway West constituency.

Frank Fahey was born in June 1951 in Galway. He was educated at St Mary's College, Our Lady's College and University College Galway. He was a schoolteacher before he entered politics.

Fahey was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the February 1982 general election. In 1987, he was appointed Minister of State for Youth and Sport. He lost his Dáil seat at the 1992 general election and was appointed to Seanad Éireann, serving in the 20th Seanad until 1997. Following Fianna Fáil's victory at the 1997 general election, he returned to the Dáil and was appointed Minister of State with special responsibility for Children. In January 2000, he was appointed to the Cabinet as Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources.

Following the re-election of the incumbent government at the 2002 general election, Fahey was demoted to the post of junior Minister at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. He was re-elected at the 2007 general election but not appointed to any ministerial office. He was, however, appointed to head the joint Oireachtas committee on Transport.

Lost at Sea scheme

While Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources in 2000, Fahey launched the Lost at Sea scheme to compensate fishermen whose vessels had been lost at sea. In 2004, following a complaint from a late applicant (who had been turned down), the Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly recommended to the department that latecomers should be considered, saying that the schemes had a "serious defect" in having contacted some fishing families and not others. Via a freedom of information request, The Sunday Business Post found that Fahey had discussed the scheme with two constituents, who later received three quarters (around €2m) of the overall compensation, prior to the announcement - and had written to them about their successful applications prior to the closing date. In 2007 the Standards in Public Office Commission found no problems with Fahey's conduct. In 2009 the Ombudsman published a full report into the scheme, again recommending that late applicants receive compensation, but it was blocked from discussion in the Oireachtas by the government.

Corrib gas project

In 2000, one of Fahey's last acts as Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources was to approve the foreshore licence for the controversial Corrib gas project. In 2002, in connection with this project, he approved the sale of a large area of Irish national forestry at Bellanaboy to Shell Oil for the building of a gas processing site, which caused much controversy.

The Irish Times reported in 2006 that in 1994, when Fahey was a Senator, he became involved in establishing a hair and beauty salon business in Moscow, involving an investment of over £200,000 (€254,000). Fahey did not officially declare the interest and at first denied involvement with the salon. Later, he admitted a connection, saying he had travelled to Moscow "as an ordinary citizen to support the investors including my wife who were attempting to set up a hair salon there...the whole thing was part of a regional political campaign by a number of individuals to do damage to my integrity, character and good name".

Fahey has invested in properties in countries including Ireland, France, the US, Dubai and Belgium. He also declared an interest in a construction company and a share portfolio in the Dáil Register of Members Interests.

In June 2009, Government minister Trevor Sargent accused Fahey in the Dáil of tax avoidance and making inappropriate decisions as a minister, and called on the Taoiseach to sack him.

The 2011 general election was disastrous for Fianna Fáil and Fahey lost his seat, his first preference vote declining to 5.7%. He had said in November 2010: “I have no illusions that I will lose my seat”. During a public meeting in the run up to the election he and government advisor Alan Aherne were booed and heckled.