Eoin Ryan Jnr

Ryan was born in Dublin in 1953 and educated at St. Mary's College, Rathmines; College of Commerce, Rathmines; and Kildalton Horticulture College, County Kilkenny. Ryan comes from an Irish political family. His father, Eoin Ryan Snr, was a senator in Seanad Éireann for a number of years. Ryan's grandfather was James Ryan, a founding-member of Fianna Fáil and a long-serving cabinet minister. His great-aunts, language teacher Josephine Ryan and chemist Phyllis Ryan served in the GPO during the 1916 Easter Rising, and married respectively general and Fine Gael politician Richard Mulcahy and president of Ireland and Fianna Fáil politician Seán T. O'Kelly (who was the widower of his great-aunt Mary Kate Ryan); and his great-aunt Agnes McCullough, also an activist and member of Cumann na mBan, married Denis McCullough, Cumann na nGaedheal TD and musical entrepreneur. ==Political career==

In 1985 he was elected to Dublin City Council. In 1989 he was nominated to Seanad Éireann by then Taoiseach Charles Haughey. Ryan was elected to Dáil Éireann for the first time at the 1992 general election. He was re-elected at the 1997 general election, topping the poll in the Dublin South-East constituency. In February 2000 Ryan was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Tourism, Sport and Recreation. He was not re-appointed in 2002. In 2004 he was elected to the European Parliament for the Dublin constituency, sitting in the Union for Europe of the Nations group. Ryan retired from national politics at the 2007 general election, opting to concentrate on European politics. He lost his seat at the 2009 European Parliament election. ==References==