Tom Leonard (Irish politician)
Thomas "Tom" Leonard (May 30 1924 – March 6 2004) was a Fianna Fáil TD for the Dublin Central electoral constituency in Ireland.
Tom Leonard was born in Dublin in 1924, and worked much of his life in a family business in the Dublin Corporation Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable Markets. The business had been started two generations earlier by his grandmother, continued by his father and ultimately passed to Leonard and his two brothers. Whilst in business, Leonard was also a Dublin City Councillor and Alderman.
His career in politics reached a new level in June, 1977, when he was elected to the 21st Dáil representing the constituency of Dublin Cabra. He served in the government of Jack Lynch until dissolution in 1981. At the end of his first term in office, Leonard's Cabra based constituency was discontinued by becoming part of the larger Dublin Central electoral bloc. Leonard did not serve again until November, 1983 when he won a by-election for Dublin Central necessitated by the death of sitting member, George Colley.
During this tenure, he was appointed by the then party leader and former Taoiseach Charles Haughey to the New Ireland Forum, a working group mandated to address the Northern Ireland issue.
Leonard did not contest the general election of 1987 and departed from public life. He continued in the markets until his retirement.
Tom Leonard died in Blanchardstown, Dublin in 2004.
This page incorporates information from the Oireachtas Members Database