Ciarán Cannon is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has served as a Teachta Dála for the Galway East constituency since 2011. He was Minister of State for the Diaspora and International Development until June 2020. He previously served as Minister of State for Training and Skills from 2011 to 2014. He was a Senator from 2007 to 2011, after being nominated by the Taoiseach. Before entering politics, he was CEO and secretary of IHCPT – The Irish Pilgrimage Trust. In 2002, he was honoured as one of the Galway People of the Year. As a member of the Progressive Democrats, Cannon was elected to Galway County Council in 2004, to represent the Loughrealocal electoral area, with 1,307 first preferences. He was an unsuccessful candidate at the 2007 general election in Galway East. He was nominated by the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to the 23rd Seanad in 2007. Cannon was elected as Leader of the Progressive Democrats in April 2008. He was the first leader of the party to sit as a Senator while serving as leader. At his first press conference as party leader, he stated that he believed "there was passion, commitment, talent and knowledge within the PDs' ranks to stage a big comeback". However, after speculation increased that Noel Grealish, one of the two Progressive Democrat TDs, intended to leave the party, Cannon announced in September 2008 that a party conference would be held on 8 November 2008, at which he would recommend that the party disband. The delegates present at the conference voted by 201–161 to agree with this recommendation. On 24 March 2009, Cannon announced his decision to resign the leadership of the PDs and joined Fine Gael the same day. On 10 March 2011, he was appointed as Minister of State for Training and Skills. He was dropped from the government following a reshuffle in July 2014. He was appointed as Minister of State for the Diaspora and International Development in June 2017. He called for a "No" vote in the 2018 referendum on abortion on the Eighth Amendment. In 2019, in recognition of his work in education, Cannon was appointed as a UNICEF global champion for education. He is one of seven Generation Unlimited Champions who will advocate worldwide for the development of UNICEF’s ‘Gen U’ programme.
Personal life
Cannon is also a musician and songwriter, and recently collaborated with Irish folk singer Seán Keane and others on songwriting projects. One of Cannon's co-compositions, "Nature's Little Symphony", was performed in Dublin by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra as part of the national Cruinniú celebrations on Easter Monday 2017. Both “Nature’s Little Symphony” and another of his compositions “Gratitude” featured on the album “Gratitude” recorded by Seán Keane and the RTE Concert Orchestra in 2018. On the 10 August 2018, Cannon played piano with Seán Keane and the RTE Concert Orchestra as part of a sold-out performance at the National Concert Hall. In 2019, he composed “An Túr”, a short piano instrumental to celebrate the birthday of W. B. Yeats. Cannon is also an avid cyclist and cycling safety advocate.
