Ted Nealon

Ted Nealon (24 November 1929 – 28 January 2014) was an Irish Fine Gael politician and journalist.^[1] He was born at Aclare, County Sligo. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fine Gael Teachta Dála (TD) for Sligo–Leitrim at the 1981 general election, and was re-elected at each subsequent general election until he retired from politics at the 1997 general election.^[2] Previously he had stood for election in 1977 at Dublin Clontarf, but failed to be elected.

He served as Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture from 1981 to 1982 in the Fine Gael–Labour Party government of the 22nd Dáil. After the November 1982 general election, another Fine Gael–Labour Party coalition was returned to office in the 24th Dáil under Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald. In February 1983, he was appointed Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach (with responsibilities for Arts and Culture).^[1] He was also Minister of State at the Department of Posts and Telegraphs, subsequently becoming Minister of State at the Department of Communications when the department was renamed.

He was the founder and editor of Nealon's Guide to the Dáil and Seanad from 1973 to 1997.^[3] This book comes out after every general election and is regarded as the 'bible' of political statistics and information. Since 1997 it has been edited by The Irish Times.

Prior to going into politics, Nealon was a well-known current affairs presenter on RTÉ. He won a Jacob's Award for his hosting of the television coverage of the 1973 Irish general election results.

He died in January 2014.^[4]

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