Ciarán Cannon

Ciarán Cannon (born 19 September 1965) is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Galway East constituency since 2011. He previously served as Minister of State for the Diaspora and International Development from 2017 to 2020 and Minister of State for Training and Skills from 2011 to 2014. He served as a Senator from 2007 to 2011, after being nominated by the Taoiseach.[1][2]

Ciarán Cannon TD
Minister of State for the Diaspora and International Development
In office 20 June 2017 – 27 June 2020
Taoiseach	Leo Varadkar
Preceded by	Joe McHugh
Succeeded by	Colm Brophy
Minister of State for Training and Skills
In office 10 March 2011 – 15 July 2014
Taoiseach	Enda Kenny
Preceded by	New office
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Teachta Dála
Incumbent
Assumed office February 2011
Constituency	Galway East
Senator
In office 10 August 2007 – 26 February 2011
Constituency	Nominated by the Taoiseach
Personal details
Born	(1965-09-19) 19 September 1965 Galway, Ireland
Nationality	Irish
Political party	Fine Gael
Spouse(s)	Niamh Lawless (m. 1996)
Children	1
Alma mater	Trinity College Dublin

Before entering politics, he was CEO (2002–2006) and secretary (2000–2002) of IHCPT – The Irish Pilgrimage Trust. In 2002, he was honoured as one of the Galway People of the Year. As a member of the Progressive Democrats, Cannon was elected to Galway County Council in 2004, to represent the Loughrea local electoral area, with 1,307 first preferences. He was an unsuccessful candidate at the 2007 general election in Galway East.[3] He was nominated by the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to the 23rd Seanad in 2007.

Cannon was elected as Leader of the Progressive Democrats in April 2008.[4] He was the first leader of the party to sit as a Senator while serving as leader. At his first press conference as party leader, he stated that he believed "there was passion, commitment, talent and knowledge within the PDs' ranks to stage a big comeback".

However, after speculation increased that Noel Grealish, one of the two Progressive Democrat TDs, intended to leave the party, Cannon announced in September 2008 that a party conference would be held on 8 November 2008, at which he would recommend that the party disband.[5] The delegates present at the conference voted by 201–161 to agree with this recommendation.[6]

On 24 March 2009, Cannon announced his decision to resign the leadership of the PDs and joined Fine Gael the same day.[7] On 10 March 2011, he was appointed as Minister of State for Training and Skills. He was dropped as a minister following a reshuffle in July 2014.[8] He served as Minister of State for the Diaspora and International Development from June 2017 to June 2020

He called for a "No" vote in the 2018 referendum to allow legislation on abortion.[9]

In 2019, in recognition of his work in education, Cannon was appointed as a UNICEF global champion for education. He is one of seven Generation Unlimited Champions who will advocate worldwide for the development of UNICEF's Gen U programme.[10]