Gerald Bartley

Gerald Bartley (12 June 1898 – 18 April 1975) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Minister for the Gaeltacht and Minister for Defence from 1959 to 1965. He was a TD for the Galway and Galway West constituencies from 1932 until his retirement in 1965.

Bartley was born in Cloghan, County Mayo. He was the son of RIC Sergeant John Bartley and Anne Costelloe, a grocer. His family later settled in Clifden, County Galway. He was educated at O'Connell Schools in Dublin and joined the Irish Volunteers in 1914. He served with the West Connemara Brigade flying column from early 1921 during the War of Independence, was promoted to vice-brigadier of the West Connemara Brigade of the Irish Republican Army in the Truce period, took the anti-Treaty side in the Civil War, was involved in a number of attacks on National Army troops and was captured by the Free State Government in October 1922 and interned until June 1924. In 1925 Bartley was elected to Galway County Council and served as chairman of the finance committee before his election to Dáil Éireann. Bartley applied to the Irish government for a service pension under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1934 and was awarded 7 and 5/6 years service in 1937 at Grade C for service with the Irish Volunteers and the IRA between 1 April 1917 and 30 September 1923.

For almost twenty years Bartley remained as a backbench TD before his first government appointment as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture in 1951. On returning to government in 1957, Bartley was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry and Commerce. He was moved to the position of Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance the following year before joining the cabinet as Minister for the Gaeltacht in 1959. Two years later Bartley became Minister for Defence, a post he held until his retirement from politics in 1965.