Conor Lenihan

Conor Lenihan (born 3 March 1963) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician and currently a Vice President of the Skolkovo Foundation. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin South-West constituency from 1997 to 2011, and served as a Minister of State from 2004 to 2011. He accepted a position with the Skolkovo Foundation in 2011, a planned high-tech innovation centre in Moscow, where he works on international partnership development.

Lenihan was born in Dublin. He lived in Athlone until he was 11 years of age. He was educated at Belvedere College, University College Dublin (where he was chair of the Kevin Barry Cumann of Ógra Fianna Fáil), Dublin City University and the INSEAD.

Lenihan began his working life as a newspaper journalist working in the 1980s in the House of Commons in London where he was a political correspondent for the Irish News. While in London he was also a member of the European Commission's Speakers Panel.

In the 1990s he went into broadcast journalism working with the Dublin radio station 98FM. Lenihan also worked as a senior executive with O2, an Irish-owned mobile operator, and subsequently worked as an advisor for the company.

Lenihan is the son of former Fianna Fáil Tánaiste Brian Lenihan, Snr. His grandfather, Patrick Lenihan, also served in the Irish parliament. His aunt, Mary O'Rourke, is a former Fianna Fáil TD and Senator, while his brother, Brian Lenihan, Jnr was a TD and the Minister for Finance from 2008 to 2011.

Lenihan was diagnosed with a benign tumour in 2007.

Lenihan was also the editor of The Nation, the official publication of the Fianna Fáil party.

Lenihan was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1997 general election.

In Bertie Ahern's cabinet reshuffle of 2004, he was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs with special responsibility for Overseas Development and Human Rights. Lenihan restructured Ireland's international aid programme, creating Irish Aid, the Irish Government's programme of assistance to developing countries. Through Irish Aid, Lenihan administered a budget of almost a billion euros which is used to help developing nations thus continuing Ireland's tradition of reaching out to other post-colonial nations.

In 2007 he became Ireland's first minister for Integration and led a government initiative to deal with large volume immigration into Ireland which culminated with the publication of a new policy statement "Migration Nation.

As Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation he created a single budget line for science and technology funding as well as participating in the country's Innovation Task Force. As part of his role in the Ministry he participated in trade and investment missions, frequently presenting to top global companies who already invest in Ireland or were about to do so. He was a member of the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Economic Recovery.

He lost his seat at the 2011 general election, with his first preference vote declining from 20.5% in 2007 to just 5%. He placed eight in the poll and was eliminated on the fourth count.

Controversies

Attitude to immigrants

Lenihan was involved in some controversy on 18 May 2005, when off-microphone he told opposition TD Joe Higgins of the Socialist Party that he should "stick to [helping] the kebabs", a reference to the Turkish workers who were making a legal challenge against their employer, GAMA. Lenihan apologised in the Dáil for the remarks.

In 2007 he banned Gardaí and Garda reserves from wearing the Sikh turban, saying "if we are to take integration seriously, people who come here must understand our way of doing things. When the President and Ministers travel to the Middle East, they accept cultural requirements of the country and the culture in which they are operating. It is a vice-versa situation with regard to Ireland".

The Origin of Specious Nonsense

In September 2010, Lenihan attracted controversy when it emerged that he was to attend the launch of The Origin of Specious Nonsense, an anti-evolution book by John J. May. PZ Myers, on his Pharyngula blog, expressed shock that a Minister of State with special responsibility for Science would lend support to such a book. Lenihan claimed that he was "not launching the book as Minister for Science but rather as a TD because May is a constituent of his". In the wake of this controversy, May asked Lenihan not to launch the book "because I am so embarrassed that the Minister for Science has been so insulted" and "eviscerated" on a political website.

Tonight with Vincent Browne

While appearing in March 2011 on Tonight with Vincent Browne on television, presenter Vincent Browne asked if there was “a happy coincidence” between matters of national importance and what Lenihan was personally interested in, leading to what The Irish Times described as “some on-air rage”.

In July 2011, Lenihan joined Skolkovo Foundation, a planned scientific and innovation center outside Moscow, Russia. In August 2012, Lenihan joined the board of San Leon Energy, an oil and gas explorer with concessions in Poland, Albania, Morocco and Ireland.