Dan Boyle (politician)

Boyle was born in Chicago, Illinois, to emigrant Irish parents. He has lived in his mother's native city of Cork since he was eight years of age, in the Turners Cross area of the city. He was educated at local schools; Scoil Chríost Rí and Coláiste Chríost Rí, and at the Cork Institute of Technology, where he studied Business Studies and Child Care. He received an MBS in Government from University College Cork in 2015. He was married to Bláithín Hurley from 1987 to 2014,[3][4] they have one daughter.

In 1991, he was elected to Cork City Council. At the 2002 general election, he was elected to Dáil Éireann for the Cork South-Central constituency. He was the Green Party Spokesperson for Finance, Social and Family Affairs and Community, Rural Development and the Islands during the 29th Dáil. He was also the party whip. In 2002, he resigned his seat on Cork City Council, where he was replaced by Chris O'Leary.

At the 2007 general election, Boyle lost his seat in the Dáil. He was subsequently part of the Green Party team that negotiated a programme that brought the party into the Irish government for the first time in its history. He was nominated by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to Seanad Éireann as a Senator on 3 August 2007. He was appointed as Deputy Leader of the Seanad on 16 August 2007.[5] He succeeded John Gormley as Chair of the Green Party/Comhaontas Glas in 2007. He was succeeded in that office by Roderic O'Gorman in 2011.

He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Green Party in the 2009 European Parliament election for the South constituency.[6]

Commenting on Willie O'Dea's defamation case on 17 February 2010, Boyle said that he has "no confidence" in O'Dea and declaring him to be "compromised".[7] On 18 February 2010, O'Dea resigned as Minister for Defence.[8]

He ran for Dáil Éireann in Cork South-Central constituency at the 2011 general election, but failed to get elected. He stood as a candidate in the 2011 Seanad election on the Industrial and Commercial Panel but was not elected. He was an unsuccessful Green Party candidate for Cork City Council at the 2014 local elections. In May 2019, Boyle was elected to Cork City Council for the Cork South Central local electoral area.[2][9][10] In November 2019, he sought to have further drive-thru restaurants banned in Cork.[11] The Southern Star reported in October 2020 that Boyle was a voluntary Director of Carbery Housing Association.[12]

In 2011, he released a music album titled Third Adolescence.[13]

He has authored three books on political history - A Journey to Change (2006); Without Power of Glory (2012) and Making Up The Numbers (2017).

He was later hired by the Wales Green Party in 2015, as their campaign manager for the 2016 Welsh Assembly election.[14] In 2015, he was credited by the Irish Examiner as being the driving force behind the Green Foundation think tank.