Prominent former TDs for Clare include Éamon de Valera who went on to become Taoiseach and President, former president Patrick Hillery and former Cabinet Minister Brendan Daly.

Brooks was named after a local planter, Hillery Brooks, who gave a lot to the construction of the railroad and a much needed depot.

Key among this new breed of politician was Hillery who became Minister for Education in 1959, succeeding Jack Lynch in that post.

While Donogh O ' Malley has received much of the credit for introducing free education it was in fact Hillery who laid much of the groundwork before this landmark announcement.

While some of his supporters started chanting ‘ We want Boland ’, Hillery, who by this stage had grabbed the nearest microphone, started shouting down the Boland faction with the immortal line ‘ Ye can have Boland but ye can ’ t have Fianna Fáil .’

: Dr. Hillery is regarded as a powerhouse of ideas, one of the few members of Fianna Fáil who has new policies and is eager to implement them.

Younger men such as Brian Lenihan, Charles Haughey, Patrick Hillery and Michael Hilliard were all given their first Cabinet portfolios by Lemass, and ministers who joined under de Valera, such as Jack Lynch, Neil Blaney and Kevin Boland were promoted by the new Taoiseach.

Subsequently, it was reported in books by authors Stephen O ' Byrnes and Raymond Smith, and by many political journalists in newspaper articles ( some of whom had Lenihan as their source ) that Lenihan had been one of the people who had made phone calls to Áras an Uachtaráin, the President's official residence, on the night in question, in order to persuade or pressurise Hillery to refuse a dissolution.

Mary Beatrice ( Maeve ) Hillery ( née Finnegan ) is a retired Irish doctor who is the widow of Patrick Hillery, President of Ireland from 1976 – 90.

It was here that she met her future husband, Patrick Hillery, who was also studying medicine.

In that position he succeeded Dr. Patrick Hillery who returned to become President of Ireland.

Other notable former deputies include President Patrick Hillery, the long-serving Ceann Comhairle ( chairman of the Dáil ) Patrick Hogan and Moosajee Bhamjee who was the first Muslim TD.

Anglo-Irish relations hit one of their lowest ebbs, with the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Patrick Hillery, going specially to the United Nations in New York to demand UN involvement in the Northern Ireland " Troubles ".

The President of Ireland, Patrick Hillery, and the Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, attended a memorial service for Mountbatten in St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin on 5 September 1979.

The party traditionally used the nomination as a reward for its most senior and prominent members, such as party founder and longtime Taoiseach Éamon de Valera and European Commissioner Patrick Hillery.

The Irish government refused to attend royal functions as a result ; for example, Patrick Hillery declined on Government advice to attend the wedding of the Prince of Wales to Lady Diana Spencer in 1981, to which he had been invited by Queen Elizabeth, just as Seán T. O ' Kelly had declined on government advice to attend the 1953 Coronation Garden Party at the British Embassy in Dublin.

Letters of Credence from Queen Elizabeth, on the British government's advice, appointing United Kingdom ambassadors to Ireland were not addressed to the ' President of Ireland ' but to the President personally ( for example: ' President Hillery ').

Hillery ’ s medical career in the 1950s saw him serve as a member of the National Health Council and as Medical Officer for the Miltown Malbay Dispensary District.

The election resulted in a return to power for Fianna Fáil and Hillery was successful on his first attempt to get elected.

As Minister for Education, Hillery was responsible for much innovative thinking in a department which would become very important under Lemass's leadership ..

As Minister for Education, Hillery laid the groundwork for successive ministers to advance the reforms and initiatives he had begun.

In 1965 Hillery succeeded Lynch again by taking over as Minister for Industry and Commerce.

Hillery only remained in this position for just over a year, becoming the country's first Minister for Labour in 1966, as industrial disputes began to take their toll.

This new department had been a dream of Lemass's for several years and Hillery had the honour of being the first incumbent.

Hillery was invited by Lemass to allow his name to go forward for the leadership of the party, however, he declined explaining that he had no interest.

Hillery retained his post as Minister for Labour following Lynch's reshuffle of the Cabinet, serving until 1969.

Following yet another victory for Fianna Fáil at the 1969 general election, Hillery became Minister for External Affairs ( renamed Foreign Affairs in 1972 ), one of the most prestigious of cabinet posts.

When a furious President Ó Dálaigh resigned, a deeply reluctant Hillery agreed to become the Fianna Fáil candidate for the presidency.

It occurred in September 1979, when the international press corps, travelling to Ireland for the visit of Pope John Paul II, told their Irish colleagues that Europe was " awash " with rumours that Hillery had a mistress living with him in Áras an Uachtaráin ( the presidential residence ), that he and his wife were divorcing and he was resigning the presidency.

Though once voted the world's sexiest head of state by readers of the German Der Spiegel magazine, few expected Hillery to become embroiled in a sex scandal as president.

A few weeks before the election a scandal broke over the accusation that Lenihan had phoned President Hillery in 1982, asking him not to dissolve the Dáil following the fall of Garret FitzGerald's government.

In October 1990, Lenihan changed his story, claiming ( even though he had said the opposite for eight years ) that he had played " no hand, act or part " in pressurising President Hillery that night.

In the interview Lenihan confirmed what he had previously confirmed to other writers over eight years, that on 27 January 1982 he, along with party leader Charles Haughey and a colleague, Sylvester Barrett, had repeatedly phoned Áras an Uachtaráin, the residence of the President of Ireland, to try to put pressure on the President, Patrick Hillery, to refuse a dissolution of parliament to the Taoiseach ( prime minister ), Dr Garret FitzGerald.

In 1983, five years after her husband's death, she was appointed to the Council of State by his successor as President, Patrick Hillery.

* Patrick Hillery, Former President of Ireland lived in Sutton for many years until his death in 2008.

Patrick Hillery bows out after 14 years as Head of State.

It emerged during the campaign that what Lenihan had told friends and insiders in private flatly contradicted his public statements on a controversial effort in 1982 by the then opposition Fianna Fáil to pressure President Hillery into refusing a parliamentary dissolution to then Taoiseach, Garret FitzGerald ; Hillery had resolutely rejected the pressure.

His successor, Patrick Hillery, was also involved in a controversy in 1982, when then Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald requested a dissolution of the Dáil Éireann.

A ' Yes ' vote was urged by a massive campaign by the main parties and by civil society and the social partners, including campaigning through canvassing and all forms of media by respected pro-European figures like then EP president Pat Cox, former Czech president Václav Havel, former President of Ireland Patrick Hillery and former Taoiseach ( prime minister ) Dr. Garret Fitzgerald.

Hillery also hit the headlines when, on the advice of then Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, he declined Queen Elizabeth II's invitation to attend the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981.

Having been re-elected unopposed in 1983, Hillery ( until then ) shared the distinction with Seán T. O ' Kelly and Éamon de Valera of serving two full terms as President of Ireland.

A briefing paper, prepared for then British Foreign Secretary, Sir Alec Douglas-Home and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland William Whitelaw, observed about Hillery:

He first achieved prominence in 1990 when the contents of his on-the-record interview with then Tánaiste Brian Lenihan, in which Lenihan admitted making calls to the residence of the Irish president seeking to speak to President Hillery to urge him to refuse a Dáil dissolution in controversial circumstances ( something he had previously denied ), led to Lenihan's dismissal from government, his defeat in that year's Irish presidential election and the unexpected election of the left wing liberal Mary Robinson as President of Ireland.

He then requested an audience with President Hillery to seek his confirmation that he made no phone calls.

The first animals started to arrive to Fota Wildlife Park in late 1982, and Fota Wildlife Park was opened in the summer of 1983 by the then President of Ireland, Dr. Patrick Hillery.

These efforts raised over £ 400, 000, the Government contributed grants totalling £ 35, 000, and a fully equipped Community Centre was opened by then President of Ireland, Dr Patrick Hillery, in 1989.