Gerald Bartley

Gerald Bartley
Minister for Defence
In office 11 October 1961 – 21 April 1965
Taoiseach	Seán Lemass
Preceded by	Kevin Boland
Succeeded by	Michael Hilliard
Minister for the Gaeltacht
In office 23 July 1959 – 11 October 1961
Taoiseach	Seán Lemass
Preceded by	Mícheál Ó Móráin
Succeeded by	Mícheál Ó Móráin
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance
In office 24 February 1958 – 23 July 1959
Taoiseach	Éamon de Valera
Preceded by	Patrick Beegan
Succeeded by	Joseph Brennan
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry and Commerce
In office 20 March 1957 – 24 February 1958
Taoiseach	Éamon de Valera
Preceded by	Patrick Crotty
Succeeded by	Michael Hilliard
Teachta Dála
In office 1 July 1937 – 7 April 1965
Constituency	Galway West
In office 16 February 1932 – 1 July 1937
Constituency	Galway
Personal details
Born	(1898-06-12)12 June 1898 Mayo, Ireland
Died	10 May 1975(1975-05-10) (aged 76) Clifden, County Galway, Ireland
Political party	Fianna Fáil
Education	O'Connell Schools

Gerald Bartley (12 June 1898 – 10 May 1974) 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 various Galway constituencies from 1932 until his retirement in 1965.

Bartley was born in Cloghan, County Mayo (although the 1911 census states he was born in Belfast). 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 eventually became vice-brigadier of the Connemara Brigade of the Irish Republican Army, served with a flying column during the War of Independence and was interned during the Civil War. In 1925 Bartley was elected to Galway County Council and served as chairman of the finance committee before his election to Dáil Éireann.

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.