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John Perry (Irish politician)

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John Perry
Perry in 2014
Minister of State
2011–2014Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation
Teachta Dála
In office
June 2007 – February 2016
ConstituencySligo–North Leitrim
In office
June 1997 – June 2007
ConstituencySligo–Leitrim
Personal details
Born (1956-08-15) 15 August 1956 (age 68)
Ballymote, County Sligo, Ireland
Political party
SpouseMarie Perry[1]
Children1

John Perry (born 15 August 1956) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as a Minister of State from 2011 to 2014. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1997 to 2016.[2]

Perry was born in Ballymote, County Sligo. He was educated at Ballymote National School and Corran College, Ballymote. Perry was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1997 general election for the constituency and retained his seat until his defeat in 2016.[3] In 1997, he became Fine Gael Spokesperson on Science, Technology, Small Business and Enterprise, and the Border Counties. He was a member of Sligo County Council from 1999 to 2003, representing the Sligo–Strandhill electoral area. In June 2000, he was appointed assistant director of Organisation and Deputy Spokesperson with special responsibility for Border Issues. He held this post until February 2001.

Between September 2002 and October 2004, he was vice-chairman of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications and Natural Resources. He has also served as Chairman of the Dáil Public Accounts Committee. In October 2004, he was appointed to the position as party spokesperson for the Marine, in Enda Kenny's Front Bench. He was demoted from the Front Bench after a reshuffle following the 2007 general election. In July 2010, he was appointed as Spokesman on Small Business.[4]

On 10 March 2011, he was appointed by the Fine Gael–Labour government as Minister of State at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation with special responsibility for Small Business.[5][6]

In July 2012, he was the subject of some controversy over his claims for mileage expenses for official duties including a claim for 4,417 km of mileage in a month during which he only had two official appointments and another monthly mileage claim which averaged 344 km per day for every day he was in Ireland. In that latter month he was abroad for 9 days.[7]

On 22 July 2013, Perry and his wife consented to a judgment of €2.47m against them at the Commercial Court over unpaid loans to Danske Bank.[8] In September 2013, Perry confirmed that he had reached an agreement with Danske Bank, in relation to his outstanding loans.[9][1] In March 2013, it was reported that Perry hired his wife, Marie, as a parliamentary assistant, contrary to government statements on appointments.[1]

He was dropped as a Minister of State in a reshuffle in July 2014.[10] He was reappointed to the Public Accounts Committee in December 2014.

In October 2015, Perry was not selected as Fine Gael candidate for the Sligo–Leitrim constituency at the 2016 general election. In December 2015, he took a High Court action against Fine Gael challenging the results of the selection convention. On 22 December, the Fine Gael National Executive announced it was adding Perry to the Sligo–Leitrim election ticket.[11]

He lost his seat at the 2016 general election.[3] He ran as an independent candidate for Sligo–Leitrim at the 2020 general election. He was eliminated on the seventh count.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c "Former minister appoints wife to €38k position". RTÉ.ie. 19 March 2015. Archived from the original on 20 March 2015. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  2. ^ "John Perry". Oireachtas Members Database. Archived from the original on 8 November 2018. Retrieved 20 October 2009.
  3. ^ a b "John Perry". ElectionsIreland.org. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2009.
  4. ^ "Bruton & Noonan return to Fine Gael frontbench". RTÉ News. 1 July 2010. Archived from the original on 4 July 2010. Retrieved 3 July 2010.
  5. ^ "Appointment of Ministers of State" (PDF). Iris Oifigiúil. 2011 (23): 402–403. 22 March 2011. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 September 2021. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  6. ^ Enterprise, Trade and Innovation (Delegation of Ministerial Functions) (No. 5) Order 2011 (S.I. No. 241 of 2011). Signed on 24 May 2011. Statutory Instrument of the Government of Ireland. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book on 7 April 2021.
  7. ^ "John Perry's enormous mileage claims". TheStory.ie. 7 May 2012. Archived from the original on 15 November 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  8. ^ "John Perry's case is "indicative" of many Irish business people, says Taoiseach". Irish Independent. 24 July 2013. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  9. ^ "FG Minister John Perry reaches agreement with Danske Bank". RTÉ News. 3 September 2013. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  10. ^ "Simon Harris among new Ministers of State". RTÉ News. 15 July 2014. Archived from the original on 20 July 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  11. ^ "TD John Perry added to Fine Gael election ticket". RTÉ News. 22 December 2015. Archived from the original on 24 December 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
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