constituency predecessor successor birth_place nationality party office birth_date term_start article_title term_end name
carlow -- kilkenny seán treacy rory o'hanlon kilkenny , ireland irish labour party ceann comhairle of dáil Éireann teachta dála 19 april 1936 26 june 1997 october 1961 séamus pattison
 6 june 2002 may 2007 séamus pattison
séamus pattison

séamus pattison -lrb- born 19 april 1936 -rrb- is a retired irish labour party politician .
he was a teachta dála -lrb- td -rrb- for the carlow -- kilkenny constituency from 1961 to 2007 and was ceann comhairle -lrb- chairman -rrb- of dáil Éireann from 1997 to 2002 .
he was born in kilkenny , ireland in 1936 .
his father was labour party td james pattison , who represented carlow -- kilkenny from 1933 to 1957 .
after his education the young pattison became a full-time trade union official , serving with the irish transport and general workers ' union -lrb- itgwu -rrb- .
he unsuccessfully contested the carlow -- kilkenny by-election in june 1960 but was elected at the 1961 general election to the 17th dáil and held the seat at eleven further general elections .
pattison served as mayor of kilkenny on three occasions ; 1967 , 1976 and 1992 .
in 1981 he became a member of the european parliament -lrb- mep -rrb- for leinster to replace liam kavanagh who became minister for labour following the 1981 general election .
pattison resigned as an mep in 1983 when he was appointed minister of state at the department of social welfare .
he was unanimously elected ceann comhairle of dáil Éireann on 26 june 1997 , serving for the entire 28th dáil .
when the 29th dáil assembled after the 2002 general election he was replaced by rory o'hanlon , but was appointed as leas-cheann comhairle -lrb- deputy chairman -rrb- for the 29th dáil .
he was also a member of the parliamentary assembly of the council of europe .
in september 2005 he announced he would retire at the 2007 general election , and his nephew eoin pattison unsuccessfully sought the nomination .
labour county councillor michael o'brien was selected in february 2006 to contest the seat but was unsuccessful .
when pattison retired from politics at the 2007 general election , he had served in dáil Éireann for 45 years and 7 months , making him the 5th longest serving td ever and the longest ever serving labour party td .
he was the longest serving sitting td from 1995 to 2007 and had the informal title of father of the dáil .
