Barry Cowen previously served as Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine from June to July 2020.
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12 Facts About Barry Cowen
2.
Barry Cowen is married with four children and is a full-time politician.
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3.
Barry Cowen's father Bernard Cowen was a TD, Senator and Minister of State.
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4.
Barry Cowen's grandfather Christy Cowen was an Offaly County Councillor and a member of the Fianna Fail National Executive.
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5.
Barry Cowen has served in various Fianna Fail Front Bench roles such as Social Protection from 2011 to 2012, Spokesperson for Housing, Planning and Local Government from 2012 to 2018 and Spokesperson for Public Expenditure and Reform from 2018 to 2020.
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6.
Barry Cowen represented Fianna Fail in talks on government formation in 2016 and 2020.
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7.
Barry Cowen was fined €200 and was disqualified from driving for three months.
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8.
Barry Cowen accused gardai of criminality for leaking allegations that he attempted to evade a garda checkpoint before he was caught drink driving.
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9.
Barry Cowen admitted receiving a ban for drink drinking but denied attempting to evade gardai.
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10.
Barry Cowen issued a statement that the garda record was "incorrect" and suggested he would take legal action against the Sunday Times, which first reported the story.
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11.
On 14 July 2020, after he refused to resign the role of Minister for Agriculture, Barry Cowen was sacked by Taoiseach, Micheal Martin, due to the controversy surrounding his conviction for drink driving.
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12.
In July 2021, Barry Cowen called on Fianna Fail to form a new "modern centre-left" alliance with the Labour Party for the next election.
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