Jim Fitzsimons

{{Short description|Irish former politician (born 1936)}}

{{About||the American racehorse trainer|James E. Fitzsimmons|the Canadian politician|James Fitzsimmons (politician)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}

{{Use Hiberno-English|date=October 2021}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| image = James Fitzsimons.jpg

| caption = Fitzsimons in 1984

| office = Minister of State

| subterm = Oct.–Dec. 1982

| suboffice = Industry and Energy

| office2 = Teachta Dála

| term_start2 = June 1977

| term_end2 = February 1987

| constituency2 = Meath

| office3 = Member of the European Parliament

| term_start3 = 1 July 1984

| term_end3 = 24 May 2004

| constituency4 = Leinster

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1936|12|16|df=y}}

| birth_place = Navan, County Meath, Ireland

| death_date =

| death_place =

| nationality = Irish

| party = Fianna Fáil

| spouse =

| children =

| education = St Patrick's Classical School

| alma_mater =

|}}

James Fitzsimons (born 16 December 1936) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician.{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/James-N-Fitzsimons.D.1977-07-05/|title=James Fitzsimons|work=Oireachtas Members Database|access-date=1 January 2013|archive-date=8 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181108190544/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/James-N-Fitzsimons.D.1977-07-05|url-status=live}}

A publican from Navan, County Meath, he was educated at St Patrick's Classical School in Navan. Fitzsimons was elected to the 21st Dáil as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) for the Meath constituency on his first attempt at the 1977 general election,{{cite web|url=http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=4187|title=Jim Fitzsimons|work=ElectionsIreland.org|access-date=1 January 2013|archive-date=1 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001171916/http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=4187|url-status=live}} and re-elected until retiring at the 1987 general election to concentrate on his European Parliament seat. He was succeeded in the Dáil by Noel Dempsey.

He was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Industry and Energy on 28 October 1982 by the short-lived 1982 Haughey Government in a reshuffle. The Dáil was dissolved on 4 November after the government lost a vote of confidence.

He was elected as an MEP at the 1984 European Parliament election and retained his seat for 20 years, until retiring at the 2004 European Parliament election.