Tom Leonard (Irish politician)
{{Short description|Irish Fianna Fáil politician (1924–2004)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=March 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image =
| office = Teachta Dála
| term_start = November 1983
| term_end = February 1987
| constituency = Dublin Central
| term_start1 = June 1977
| term_end1 = June 1981
| constituency1 = Dublin Cabra
| birth_date = {{birth date|1924|5|30|df=y}}
| birth_place = Dublin, Ireland
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|3|5|1924|5|30|df=y}}
| death_place = Dublin, Ireland
| nationality = Irish
| party = Fianna Fáil
| education =
| alma_mater =
| spouse =
| children =
|}}
Thomas Leonard (30 May 1924 – 5 March 2004) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician.{{cite news|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Thomas-Leonard.D.1977-07-05/|title=Thomas Leonard|work=Oireachtas Members Database|access-date=6 January 2013}}
Biography
Leonard was born in Dublin, and worked much of his life in a family business in the Dublin Corporation Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable Markets. The business had been started two generations earlier by his grandmother, continued by his father and ultimately passed to Leonard and his two brothers. While in business, Leonard was also a Dublin City Councillor.
He was a Fianna Fáil candidate at the 1969 and 1973 general elections. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a TD for Dublin Cabra at the 1977 general election.{{cite news|url=http://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=2851|title=Thomas Leonard|work=ElectionsIreland.org|access-date=6 January 2013}}
At the end of his first term in office, Leonard's constituency was abolished and became part of the new Dublin Central constituency. He stood there at the 1981 general election, but lost his seat; he was also an unsuccessful candidate there at the February 1982 and November 1982 general elections. Leonard when he won the November 1983 by-election for Dublin Central following the death of George Colley.
During this tenure, he was appointed by the party leader and former Taoiseach Charles Haughey to the New Ireland Forum.
Leonard was unsuccessful at the 1985 Dublin Corporation election. Unusually for a sitting TD, he was not selected by Fianna Fáil to contest the 1987 general election, losing out to John Stafford and Dermot Fitzpatrick. Leonard graciously accepted the party decision which ended his Dáil career and went back to being a city councillor.{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/unsorted/migration/tom-leonard-478301.html|title=Tom Leonard|work=Irish Independent|date=14 March 2004|access-date=6 January 2013}}
He continued in the markets until his retirement, and died in Blanchardstown, Dublin in 2004.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Dublin Cabra (Dáil constituency)/TDs}}
{{Dublin Central (Dáil constituency)/TDs}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leonard, Tom}}
Category:Members of the 21st Dáil