Michael Yeats

{{Infobox officeholder

| image = Michael Yeats, 1977 (cropped).jpg

| caption = Yeats in 1977

| office = Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann

| term_start = 5 November 1969

| term_end = 3 January 1973

| predecessor = Liam Ó Buachalla

| successor = Micheál Cranitch

| office2 = Senator

| term_start2 = 27 October 1977

| term_end2 = 12 March 1980

| constituency2 = Nominated by the Taoiseach

| term_start3 = 5 November 1969

| term_end3 = 27 October 1977

| constituency3 = Cultural and Educational Panel

| term_start4 = 23 June 1965

| term_end4 = 5 November 1969

| constituency4 = Nominated by the Taoiseach

| term_start5 = 14 December 1961

| term_end5 = 23 June 1965

| constituency5 = Labour Panel

| term_start6 = 14 August 1951

| term_end6 = 22 July 1954

| constituency6 = Nominated by the Taoiseach

| office7 = Member of the European Parliament

| term_start7 = January 1973

| term_end7 = June 1979

| constituency7 = Oireachtas Delegation

| birth_date = {{birth date|1921|8|22|df=y}}

| birth_place = Thame, Oxfordshire, England

| death_date = {{death date and age|2007|1|3|1921|8|22|df=y}}

| death_place = Dublin, Ireland

| party = Fianna Fáil

| spouse = Gráinne Yeats

| parents = {{Ubl|W. B. Yeats|Georgie Hyde-Lees}}

| education = St Columba's College, Dublin

| alma_mater = Trinity College Dublin

|}}

Michael Butler Yeats (22 August 1921 – 3 January 2007) was an Irish barrister and Fianna Fáil politician.{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Michael-B-Yeats.S.1951-08-14/|title=Michael Yeats|work=Oireachtas Members Database|access-date=24 February 2013|archive-date=2018-11-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181108184644/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Michael-B-Yeats.S.1951-08-14|url-status=live}}{{cite journal |last1=King |first1=Helena |title=Yeats, (William) Michael Butler |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/yeats-william-michael-butler-a9839 |website=Dictionary of Irish Biography |doi=10.3318/dib.009839.v1 |date=June 2016 |access-date=11 November 2024 |archive-date=8 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240508180129/https://www.dib.ie/biography/yeats-william-michael-butler-a9839 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }} He served two periods as a member of Seanad Éireann.

Biography

=Early life=

His was the son of W. B. Yeats, a poet and Nobel Laureate who had served in the Seanad of the Irish Free State, and Georgie Hyde-Lees. His sister Anne Yeats was a painter and designer, as was his uncle Jack Butler Yeats. Michael was educated at St Columba's College, Dublin and Trinity College Dublin, where he gained first class honours degree in history. He was an officer in the College Historical Society. He also qualified as a lawyer but did not practise.

=Political career=

He unsuccessfully stood for election to Dáil Éireann at the 1948 general election and the 1951 general election for the Dublin South-East constituency.{{cite web|url=http://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?id=2260|title=Michael Yeats|work=ElectionsIreland.org|access-date=24 February 2013|archive-date=26 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120826001627/http://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?id=2260|url-status=live}} Following the 1951 election, Yeats was nominated to the 7th Seanad by the Taoiseach Éamon de Valera. He stood at the subsequent election in 1954 for the 8th Seanad but was not elected.

From 1961 to 1980 he was a member of Seanad Éireann. In 1961 he was elected to the 10th Seanad on the Labour Panel. In 1965 he was nominated by the Taoiseach Seán Lemass to the 11th Seanad. In 1969 he was elected to the 12th Seanad on the Cultural and Educational Panel, and re-elected to the 13th Seanad in 1973.

In 1969, he was elected as Cathaoirleach of the 12th Seanad.{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/seanad/1969-11-05/2/|work=Seanad Debates – Vol. 67 No. 1|title=Election of Cathaoirleach|date=5 November 1969}} On 1 January 1973, he resigned as Cathaoirleach on his appointment as a member of the Irish delegation in the European Parliament, while continuing as a member of the Seanad.{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/seanad/1973-01-03/2/|work=Seanad Debates – Vol. 74 No. 1|title=Vacancy in Office of Cathaoirleach|date=3 January 1973|access-date=11 November 2024|archive-date=5 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705221330/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/seanad/1973-01-03/2/|url-status=live}} He also served in the second and third delegations.

In 1977, he was nominated by the Taoiseach Jack Lynch to the 14th Seanad. He stood at the first direct elections in 1979 for the Dublin constituency but was not elected.

File:41 and 42 High Street, Thame, December 2023.jpg, Oxfordshire. The birthplace of Yeats in 1921.]]

He resigned from the Seanad on 12 March 1980,{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/seanad/1980-03-12/2/|title=Resignation of Member|work=Seanad Debates – Vol. 93 No. 11|date=12 March 1980}} taking up office in April 1980 as Director General of the EEC Council of Ministers in Brussels in the 1980s.{{cite news |last1=Grove |first1=Lloyd |title=In the Shadow of W. B. Years |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1986/04/14/in-the-shadow-of-w-b-yeats/df13960b-e097-46d1-8e6d-879a7591f753/ |newspaper=Washington Post |date=13 April 1986}}

Personal life

He was married to Gráinne Ní Éigeartaigh, a singer and Irish harpist. They had four children; three daughters and a son.{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/michael-yeats-431478.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220514/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/michael-yeats-431478.html |archive-date=14 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Michael Yeats|work=The Independent|date=10 January 2007|access-date=13 February 2021}}

He died on 4 January 2007.{{cite news |last=Mac Cormaic |first=Ruadhán |title=Michael Yeats, son of poet, dies |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/michael-yeats-son-of-poet-dies-1.1191315 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=4 January 2007 |access-date=11 November 2024 |archive-date=20 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240420051008/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/michael-yeats-son-of-poet-dies-1.1191315 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Son of a poet who forged his own political path |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/son-of-a-poet-who-forged-his-own-political-path-1.1191768 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=6 January 2007 |access-date=11 November 2024 |archive-date=23 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240423131703/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/son-of-a-poet-who-forged-his-own-political-path-1.1191768 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Former Senator Michael Yeats dies, aged 86 |url=https://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0103/84198-yeatsm/ |work=RTÉ News |date=3 January 2007}}