Aged 21 years and 8 months when he was first elected in 1981, Yates was the youngest member of the 22nd Dáil and is also the fifth-youngest ever member of Dáil Éireann. He became involved in local politics when he became a member of Wexford County Council, serving until 1995 and again from 1999 to 2004. He joined the Fine Gael front bench in 1988 and was appointed Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry when the party came to power in 1994. Yates oversaw a particularly difficult period for Irish agriculture. Farmers saw the prices they received for their produce plummet; he stopped live animal exports in response to controversy over cruelty in shipping, and took on the veterinary union over the tuberculosis eradication scheme. He also had to deal with a sharp rise in the number of BSE cases during 1996, and the consequent banning of Irish beef by Russia. When John Bruton resigned as leader of Fine Gael in January 2001, there was much speculation that Yates would be a contender for the vacant position. Instead, he announced to his colleagues that he was leaving full-time politics to concentrate on his family and business interests and that he would not be contesting the next general election. He receives annual pension payments of €74,836 from his time in politics.
Business career
Yates was the chairman and managing director of Celtic Bookmakers, an Irish chain of betting shops, and expanded the company from its Wexford base to a chain of 64 shops around the country at its peak. On 4 January 2011, it was announced that the company had gone into receivership. Yates' leadership has been very much in evidence in the bookmaking industry. He has headed a group of bookmakers in a court case against the British Horseracing Board over data rights. Although the issue has yet to be resolved in the Irish courts, UK bookmaker William Hill has already defeated the BHB on this issue in the Court of Appeal and the European Court of Justice. Yates is said to hope that the court will also force the BHB to pay back the £15m a year that Irish bookmakers have been paying the BHB for data rights since 2002. In 2011, he described the Irish bankruptcy process as "purgatory", and publicly announced that he was contemplating moving to the UK to avail of the British bankruptcy process. On 21 August 2012, the High Court in Dublin dismissed an attempt by Allied Irish Banks to have him declared bankrupt. In September 2013, it was announced that Yates was discharged from bankruptcy, having fulfilled the requirements set down by SwanseaCounty Court, where he made his application for personal insolvency on 24 August 2012.
Media work
Yates co-presented the Newstalkbreakfast show from 2009, firstly with Claire Byrne and subsequently with Chris Donoghue. On 23 March 2012, he announced he would be leaving both the station and his column in the Irish Examiner with effect from 6 April 2012, to concentrate on his personal finances. He also presented Tonight with Vincent Browne on TV3 during summer 2011. He returned to Newstalk in September 2013, once again co-presenting the breakfast show with Chris Donoghue. He now presents The Hard Shoulder during the drive time slot. Yates is a regular conference speaker, motivational speaker and MC at business events in Ireland. He co-hosted The Tonight Show on TV3 until his retirement from broadcasting in July 2020.
