Barry Cowen
Barry Cowen is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine in the Government of Ireland from June to July 2020. He has been a Teachta Dála for Laois–Offaly since 2020, and previously from 2011 to 2016. He was previously a TD for Offaly from 2016 to 2020. He is the brother of former Taoiseach Brian Cowen.
He is married with four children and is a full-time politician. His father Bernard Cowen was also a TD, Senator and Minister of State. His grandfather Christy Cowen was an Offaly County Councillor and a member of the Fianna Fáil National Executive. Another relation, Ernest Cowan, was also a member of the Fianna Fáil National Executive having been elected to its Committee of 15.
Before his election to Dáil Éireann, he was a member of Offaly County Council for the Tullamore local electoral area since 1991.
He has served in various Fianna Fáil Front Bench roles, Spokesperson for Social Protection from 2011 to 2012, Spokesperson for Housing, Planning and Local Government from 2012 to 2018 and Spokesperson for Public Expenditure and Reform after March 2018.
He represented Fianna Fáil in talks on government formation in 2016.
In July 2020, it emerged that Cowen had a conviction for drink driving. Cowen was fined €200 and was disqualified from driving for three months. The incident occurred in September 2016, after an All-Ireland football final between Dublin and Mayo. Cowen apologized for his "serious lapse of judgement".
On 14 July 2020, Cowen was sacked as Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine due to controversy surrounding his conviction for drink driving.
