The 11 men from Kerry who have served as Ministers of State

No female TD from the county has ever served in a junior ministry, or a senior one, for that matter. The following are the eleven men from Kerry who have been Parliamentary Secretaries or Ministers of State. Just four of them went on to hold a seat at the Cabinet table:

John Marcus O’Sullivan (CnaG, Kerry)

Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education 1924-1926

Eamonn Kissane (FF, Kerry North)

Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Lands 1943
Parliamentary Secretary to the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence 1944-1948


Dan Spring (Lab, Kerry North)

Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment 1956-1957

Michael Begley (FG, Kerry South)

Dan and Dick Spring, both of whom
served as junior ministers

Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Local Government 1973-1975
Minister of State at Department of Finance and Department of Defence 1975-1977
Minister of State at Department of Tourism, Trade and Commerce 1981-1982

John O’Leary (FF, Kerry South)

Minister of State at Department of the Environment 1977-1979

Thomas McEllistrim (FF, Kerry North)

Minister of State at Department of Finance 1979-1981
Minister of State at Department of Forestry 1982

Michael Moynihan (Lab, Kerry South)

Minister of State at Department of Tourism, Trade and Commerce 1983-1987

Dick Spring (Lab, Kerry North)

Minister of State at Department of Justice (Law Reform) 1981-1982

John O’Donoghue (FF, Kerry South)

Minister of State at Department of Finance 1991-1992

Jimmy Deenihan (FG, Kerry North)

Minister of State at Department of Agriculture 1994-1997
Minister of State at Department of An Taoiseach 2014-

Brendan Griffin (FG, Kerry South/Kerry)
Minister of State at Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport 2016 - 

(Note: The position of Parliamentary Secretary was replaced with that of Minister of State in 1978)