Patrick Baxter (politician)

{{Infobox officeholder

| image =

| office = Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann

| term_start = 22 July 1954

| term_end = 22 May 1957

| predecessor = Liam Ó Buachalla

| successor = Liam Ó Buachalla

| office1 = Senator

| term_start1 = 27 September 1938

| term_end1 = 3 April 1959

| constituency1 = Agricultural Panel

| office2 = Senator

| term_start2 = 12 December 1934

| term_end2 = 29 May 1936

| office3 = Teachta Dála

| term_start3 = August 1923

| term_end3 = September 1927

| constituency3 = Cavan

| birth_date = {{birth date|1891|10|1|df=y}}

| birth_place = County Cavan, Ireland

| death_date = {{death date and age|1959|4|3|1891|10|1|df=y}}

| death_place = County Cavan, Ireland

| party = Clann na Talmhan

| otherparty = {{Ubl|Farmers' Party|Cumann na nGaedheal|National Centre Party|Fine Gael}}

| education =

| alma_mater =

| spouse =

| children =

}}

Patrick Francis Baxter (1 October 1891 – 3 April 1959) was an Irish politician from County Cavan. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) in the 1920s, and later a Senator for over 25 years, serving as Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann from 1954 to 1957.{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Patrick-Francis-Baxter.D.1923-09-19/|title=Patrick Baxter|work=Oireachtas Members Database|access-date=30 January 2008|archive-date=2018-11-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107185714/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Patrick-Francis-Baxter.D.1923-09-19|url-status=live}}

Baxter was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1923 general election, when he won a seat as Farmers' Party TD for Cavan in the 4th Dáil.{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/seanad/1959-04-29/2/|title=Death of Leas-Chathaoirleach: Expression of Sympathy|work=Houses of the Oireachtas|date=29 April 1959|access-date=17 December 2021}} He had stood unsuccessfully in the 1922 general election, but after topping the poll in 1923 he was re-elected at the June 1927 general election with his vote halved. He lost his seat at the September 1927 general election.

After the collapse of the Farmers' Party in the late 1920s, he made three further unsuccessful attempts to return to the Dáil: at the 1932 general election as a Cumann na nGaedheal candidate in Cavan, at the 1933 general election as a National Centre Party candidate in Clare, and as a Fine Gael candidate in Cavan at the 1943 general election.{{cite web|url=http://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=1112|title=Patrick Baxter|work=ElectionsIreland.org|access-date=6 February 2008|archive-date=11 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180911225321/https://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=1112|url-status=live}}

He was elected in 1934 as a senator for Fine Gael, for a nine-year term, but the Free State Seanad was abolished in 1936. When the house was re-established, he was re-elected in 1938 to the 2nd Seanad on the Agricultural Panel,The 2nd Seanad Éireann was actually the first Seanad elected under the 1937 constitution. This is because the Free State Seanad was considered to be in continuous session, since its members were elected for a period of nine years, with elections every three years for those senators whose terms had expired. The Free State Seanad is therefore collectively known as the First Seanad. and held the seat until his death in office in 1959. He was a Clann na Talmhan senator from 1938 onwards.