Gerald Bartley

Gerald Bartley (12 June 1898 – 10 May 1974) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Minister for the Gaeltacht and Minister for Defence from 1959 to 1965. He was a TD for various Galway constituencies from 1932 until his retirement in 1965.^[1][2]

Bartley was born in Cloghan, County Mayo (although the 1911 census states he was born in Belfast). He was the son of RIC Sergeant John Bartley and the former Anne Costelloe, a grocer. His family later settled in Clifden, County Galway. He was educated at O'Connell Schools in Dublin and joined the Irish Volunteers in 1914. He eventually became vice-brigadier of the Connemara Brigade of the Irish Republican Army, served with a flying column during the War of Independence and was interned during the Civil War. In 1925 Bartley was elected to Galway County Council and served as chairman of the finance committee before his election to Dáil Éireann.^{[citation needed]}

For almost twenty years Bartley remained as a backbench TD before his first government appointment as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture in 1951. On returning to government in 1957, Bartley was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry and Commerce. He was moved to the position of Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance the following year before joining the cabinet as Minister for the Gaeltacht in 1959. Two years later Bartley became Minister for Defence, a post he held until his retirement from politics in 1965.

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