Researching Michael Brennan

Brennan was a Fianna Fáil member of Limerick County Council for over 20 years, and served as chairman of the council in 2000. He contested the 1997 general election as an independent candidate having failed to get a Fianna Fáil nomination to run for the party. He later rejoined Fianna Fáil and was nominated by the Taoiseach to Seanad Éireann in 2002, but left the party again on 29 April 2004 to join the Progressive Democrats (PD), after a dispute arising from the end of the dual mandate.

Under the Local Government Act 2001, members of the Oireachtas could no longer serve as local councillors, and Brennan's wife Rose sought a Fianna Fáil nomination to stand for election as his successor in the Bruff Electoral Area. She did not win a nomination, and speculation that she would be imposed as a candidate by the national party did not happen. Rose Brennan also defected to the Progressive Democrats, and was elected as a PD County Councillor for Bruff. She subsequently became Vice Cathaoirleach of Limerick County Council, and in the 2009 local elections she was elected as a Fine Gael member of the council for the Adare area.

At the 2007 general election Brennan stood as a candidate for the Progressive Democrats in the Limerick West constituency. He polled 1,935 first preferences, 4.79% of the vote on a quota of 10,108 and did not win a seat. Brennan was not returned to the Seanad in the 2007 election.

A farmer, Brennan was first elected as an independent TD to the 5th Dáil at the June 1927 general election and returned to the 6th Dail at the September 1927 general election.

After losing his seat at the 1932 general election, Brennan joined Cumann na nGaedheal and was returned to the 8th Dáil at the 1933 general election. He was re-elected at the 1937 general election to the 9th Dáil and at the 1938 general election to the 10th Dáil. He lost his seat at the 1943 general election, and stood again unsuccessfully as a Fine Gael candidate at the 1944 general election.

He stood as an independent candidate at the 1948 general election, and for Fine Gael at the 1951 general election, but was unsuccessful on both occasions.

He is a former president of the American Finance Association, and has served as editor of the Journal of Finance and was the founding editor of the Review of Financial Studies; the Michael Brennan Award is named for him. He was a founding partner and director of the Real Options Group since its inception. He has served as consultant to businesses and governments in the USA and Canada. He was previously a professor at the London Business School.

Professor Brennan holds a B.Phil. in Economics (1964) from Oxford University, an MBA (1967) from the University of Pittsburgh and a Ph.D. in Business (1970) from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

On May 22, 2011, Brennan was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Notre Dame.

Brennan was born in Meelick, County Clare, and joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood in 1911. Two years later, he helped form the Irish Volunteers in Limerick city and soon he was training men in and around Meelick. He took part in preparations for the Easter Rising and spent the next five years in and out of prison and trouble, becoming the first O/C, East Clare Brigade, and later in charge of all three Clare Brigades of the IRA. This became the First Western Division, which Éamon de Valera reputedly described as the "best in the country".