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Michael Yeats
Michael Yeats
	Yeats in 1977
Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann
	In office; 5 November 1969 – 3 January 1973
Preceded by	Liam Ó Buachalla
Succeeded by	Micheál Cranitch
Senator
	In office; 27 October 1977 – 12 March 1980
Constituency	Nominated by the Taoiseach
	In office; 5 November 1969 – 27 October 1977
Constituency	Cultural and Educational Panel
	In office; 23 June 1965 – 5 November 1969
Constituency	Nominated by the Taoiseach
	In office; 14 December 1961 – 23 June 1965
Constituency	Labour Panel
	In office; 14 August 1951 – 22 July 1954
Constituency	Nominated by the Taoiseach
Member of the European Parliament
	In office; January 1973 – June 1979
Constituency	Oireachtas Delegation
Personal details
Born	22 August 1921; Thame, Oxfordshire, England
Died	3 January 2007 (aged 85); Dublin, Ireland
Political party	Fianna Fáil
Spouse	Gráinne Yeats
Parents	W. B. Yeats; Georgie Hyde-Lees;
Education	St Columba's College, Dublin
Alma mater	Trinity College Dublin

Michael Butler Yeats (22 August 1921 – 3 January 2007) was an Irish barrister and Fianna Fáil politician.^[1]^[2] He served two periods as a member of Seanad Éireann.

Biography

Early life

His was the son of W. B. Yeats, a poet and Nobel Laureate who had served in the Seanad of the Irish Free State, and Georgie Hyde-Lees. His sister Anne Yeats was a painter and designer, as was his uncle Jack Butler Yeats. Michael was educated at St Columba's College, Dublin and Trinity College Dublin, where he gained first class honours degree in history. He was an officer in the College Historical Society. He also qualified as a lawyer but did not practise.^[3]

Political career

He unsuccessfully stood for election to Dáil Éireann at the 1948 general election and the 1951 general election for the Dublin South-East constituency.^[4] Following the 1951 election, Yeats was nominated to the 7th Seanad by the Taoiseach Éamon de Valera. He stood at the subsequent election in 1954 for the 8th Seanad but was not elected.

From 1961 to 1980 he was a member of Seanad Éireann. In 1961 he was elected to the 10th Seanad on the Labour Panel. In 1965 he was nominated by the Taoiseach Seán Lemass to the 11th Seanad. In 1969 he was elected to the 12th Seanad on the Cultural and Educational Panel, and re-elected to the 13th Seanad in 1973.

In 1969, he was elected as Cathaoirleach of the 12th Seanad.^[5] On 1 January 1973, he resigned as Cathaoirleach on his appointment as a member of the Irish delegation in the European Parliament, while continuing as a member of the Seanad.^[6] He also served in the second and third delegations.

In 1977, he was nominated by the Taoiseach Jack Lynch to the 14th Seanad. He stood at the first direct elections in 1979 for the Dublin constituency but was not elected.^[4]

He resigned from the Seanad on 12 March 1980,^[7] taking up office in April 1980 as Director General of the EEC Council of Ministers in Brussels in the 1980s.^[3]^[8]

Personal life

He was married to Gráinne Ní Éigeartaigh, a singer and Irish harpist. They had four children; three daughters and a son.^[3]

He died on 4 January 2007.^[9]^[10]^[11]

References

^ "Michael Yeats". Oireachtas Members Database. Archived from the original on 8 November 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
^ King, Helena (June 2016). "Yeats, (William) Michael Butler". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.009839.v1. Archived from the original on 8 May 2024. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Michael Yeats". The Independent. 10 January 2007. Archived from the original on 14 May 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Michael Yeats". ElectionsIreland.org. Archived from the original on 26 August 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
^ "Election of Cathaoirleach". Seanad Debates – Vol. 67 No. 1. 5 November 1969.
^ "Vacancy in Office of Cathaoirleach". Seanad Debates – Vol. 74 No. 1. 3 January 1973. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
^ "Resignation of Member". Seanad Debates – Vol. 93 No. 11. 12 March 1980.
^ Grove, Lloyd (13 April 1986). "In the Shadow of W. B. Years". Washington Post.
^ Mac Cormaic, Ruadhán (4 January 2007). "Michael Yeats, son of poet, dies". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 20 April 2024. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
^ "Son of a poet who forged his own political path". The Irish Times. 6 January 2007. Archived from the original on 23 April 2024. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
^ "Former Senator Michael Yeats dies, aged 86". RTÉ News. 3 January 2007.