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Mark Killilea Jnr

Mark Killilea Jnr
Killilea c. 1980s
Minister of State
1979–1981	Posts and Telegraphs
Member of the European Parliament
In office 31 March 1987 – 11 June 1999
Constituency	Connacht–Ulster
Teachta Dála
In office June 1981 – February 1982
Constituency	Galway West
In office June 1977 – June 1981
Constituency	Galway East
Senator
In office 13 May 1982 – 25 April 1987
In office 5 November 1969 – 16 June 1977
Constituency	Labour Panel
Personal details
Born	(1939-09-05)5 September 1939 Tuam, County Galway, Ireland
Died	31 December 2018(2018-12-31) (aged 79) Tuam, County Galway, Ireland
Political party	Fianna Fáil
Spouse	Anne Severs ​ (m. 1966)​
Children	10
Occupation	Farmer

Mark Killilea Jnr (5 September 1939 – 31 December 2018) was a farmer, auctioneer and agricultural contractor^[1] who served as an Irish Fianna Fáil politician. In a 30-year political career, served as a Teachta Dála (TD) and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and also as a Senator.^[2]

Mark Killilea was born in Tuam, County Galway in 1939. He married Anne Severs in 1966. His father Mark Killilea Snr was a Fianna Fáil TD and a founder-member of the party. Killilea Jnr was educated locally and first held political office in August 1969, when he was elected to Seanad Éireann on the Labour Panel and re-elected in 1973. He failed to be elected to Dáil Éireann on his first attempt when he stood in Galway North-East at the 1973 general election, but at the 1977 general election he won a seat in the new Galway East constituency.^[3] The election was a landslide for Fianna Fáil and in particular showed the popularity of the party leader Jack Lynch.

However, after just two years Lynch's fortunes had changed. Along with Jackie Fahey, Tom McEllistrim, Seán Doherty and Albert Reynolds, Killilea was one of the so-called "gang of five" that lobbied the parliamentary party for support for Charles Haughey in the event of the retirement of Lynch's retirement. This group was determined that the leadership should not pass to George Colley, Lynch's apparent successor. Haughey went on to win the leadership contest and become Taoiseach in December 1979.

Killilea's loyalty to Haughey was rewarded by his being appointed Minister of State at the Department of Posts and Telegraphs after Haughey became Taoiseach. He held this position until Fianna Fáil's defeat at the 1981 general election—at which, after changes in constituency boundaries, he switched to the Galway West constituency.

He lost his Dáil seat there at the February 1982 general election, but was elected to the Seanad where he served until 1987. In an incident in 1982, Senator Killilea led some Workers' Party Teachtaí Dáil into the Dáil chamber through the press gallery, when all other entrances to the chamber had been locked due to the running of a Dáil vote, (nomination of Charles Haughey to the office of Taoiseach).^[4] After Ray MacSharry retired from the European Parliament in 1987, Killilea was appointed as his replacement in the Connacht–Ulster constituency. Killilea held the seat at the 1989 and 1994 European Parliament elections, and was elected as Quaestor by his fellow MEPs in 1996. He retired from politics at the 1999 European Parliament election.

In 2021, an Irish documentary made by Teresa Lavina, Untold Secrets, reported the testimony of Anne Silke, a survivor of the Tuam Mother and Baby Home, that she had been physically assaulted by Killilea Jnr on several occasions while in the foster care of his parents Mark Killilea Snr and his wife. She said several instances saw Killilea Jnr lash her with a horsewhip until she was bloody.^[5] Donagh Killilea, a son of Killlilea Jnr said that the allegations by Silke were "unverified" and "inaccurate".^[5]

• Personal profile of Mark Killilea in the European Parliament's database of members