constituency birth_place nationality party office birth_date term_start article_title term_end name
north-west connacht -- ulster galway , ireland irish fianna fáil member of the european parliament 22 may 1947 june 2004 july 2002 seán Ó neachtain -lrb- politician -rrb-
 june 2009 june 2004 seán Ó neachtain
seán Ó neachtain -lrb- politician -rrb-

seán Ó neachtain -lrb- born 22 may 1947 -rrb- is a former irish fianna fáil politician .
he was a member of the european parliament for the north-west constituency from 2002 , when he was substituted for pat the cope gallagher , until 2009 .
he was a member of the transport and tourism committee , as well as the fisheries committee .
Ó neachtain was instrumental to the recognition of the irish language as an official working language of the european union .
after obtaining a ba -lrb- hons -rrb- in 1969 , Ó neachtain became a school teacher .
he worked in this capacity through the 1970s and 1980s .
he was involved in regional politics around galway and western ireland from 1979 , and served as a member of galway county council from 1991 to 2002 .
he made his first foray into european politics when he was appointed as a member of the committee of the regions in 1994 .
he was an unsuccessful candidate for the galway west constituency at the 1997 general election .
on 20 april 2009 , he announced that he would not be contesting the 2009 european parliament election due to health concerns .
