how many sets of siblings are in Dáil Eireann?

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Request for Question Clarification by cerebrate-ga on 01 Jan 2003 08:35 PST

I'm afraid the only figures I've been able to locate only cover
siblings still children living at home, rather than all siblings.
Would you consider such figures, or extrapolations to all siblings
calculated from them, a satisfactory answer?

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Request for Question Clarification by revbrenda1st-ga on 01 Jan 2003 21:50 PST

Hi phylliso,

I can understand the reason behind your question. A quick check
revealed to me that among the TDs of Dáil Eireann, there are several
duplicate surnames. These include four Aherns, two Bradys, two
Brennans, two Brownes, two Brutons, two Burkes, two Careys, two
Hayeses, three Higginses,  two Kitts, two Lenihans, three Mitchells,
two Moynihans (plus a Moynihan-Cronin),  three O'Keeffes,  two
Reynoldses, two Ryans, two Smiths, and two Wallaces. I wish I had the
time to check out other countries to see how politics MIGHT be a
family 'thing.'

I'm awaiting an e-mail that hopefully will contain the answer for
which you are looking.

Happy New Year to you!
revbrenda1st

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Clarification of Question by phylliso-ga on 02 Jan 2003 00:01 PST

I need to know how many pairs of brothers, or brothers and sisters, or
pairs of sisters are TDs in the current Irish parliament (Dáil
Eireann. The last general election was held May 2002. I have since
found out that Bertie Ahern and Maurice? Ahern are siblings also
Richard and John Bruton, but I want to check that there might be more.

Good morning, Phylliso,

As promised, I have an official answer for you. Currently, there are
three sets of siblings -- all brothers -- in the Dáil       :)

From the Thithe an Oireachtais website I found the contact address for
the Public Relations Officer, Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas.
( info@oireachtas.ie )

I sent an e-mail right away, and Ms. Pauline O'Neill replied as
follows:

"At present, there are three sets of brothers in the 29th Dail:
                                   Bertie Ahern and Noel Ahern
                                   John Bruton and Richard Bruton
                                   Brian Lenihan and Conor Lenihan"

Ms. O'Neill also included some interesting family history trivia about
other TDs in the Dáil Eireann:

"Síle de Valera and Éamon Ó Cuív are niece/nephew and granchildren of
former
deputies.Their grandfather was Éamon de Valera, former Taoiseach and
deputy and President of Ireland, and their uncle was Vivion de Valera
a former deputy.

Brian and Conor Lenihan are sons and grandsons of former deputies.
Seán Haughey
is a son of a former Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, and a grandson of a
former Taoiseach, Seán Lemass"

Thank you for an interesting research opportunity. 

I wish you well,
revbrenda1st


Search strategy:

Dáil Eireann members
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=D%C3%A1il+Eireann+members&btnG=Google+Search

The e-mail, complete with header:

From: poneill@oireachtas.ie 
X-Lotus-FromDomain: HOUSES 
To: Brenda  
Date: Thu, 2 Jan 2003 16:05:06 +0000 
Subject: Re: A trivia question 


Dear Brenda,

These are the only statistics we have available from this office.

At present, there are three sets of brothers in the 29th Dail:
                                   Bertie Ahern and Noel Ahern
                                   John Bruton and Richard Bruton
                                   Brian Lenihan and Conor Lenihan

Síle de Valera and Éamon Ó Cuív are niece/nephew and granchildren of
former
deputies.Their grandfather was Éamon de Valera, former Taoiseach and
deputy and President of Ireland, and their uncle was Vivion de Valera
a former deputy.

Brian and Conor Lenihan are sons and grandsons of former deputies.
Seán Haughey
is a son of a former Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, and a grandson of a
former Taoiseach, Seán Lemass.

The up-to-date  list of TD's and Senators is available on our web site

www.irlgov.ie/oireachtas.


Regards
PaulineO'Neill

Dear Cerebrate,

I fear you have misunderstood the question as referrring to Ireland as
a whole.  The Dáil Éireann which Phylliso asks about is the Irish
House of Representatives - the lower house of the Oireachtas, the
Irish parliament.

Carnegie

Mm, so I realised after the clueful part of my brain caught up with my
posting finger.

My apologies, phylliso-ga, about wasting your time with an irrelevant
clarification request.

cerebrate-ga