{{Short description|Irish trade unionist and politician (1878–1971)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Use Hiberno-English|date=August 2022}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = | caption = | office = [[Teachta Dála]] | term_start = [[June 1927 Irish general election|June 1927]] | term_end = [[September 1927 Irish general election|September 1927]] | constituency = [[Dublin North (Dáil constituency)|Dublin North]] | birth_date = {{birth date|1886|8|19|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Donabate]], [[County Dublin]], Ireland | death_date = {{death date and age|1971|11|26|1886|8|19|df=y}} | death_place = [[Dublin]], Ireland | party = [[Labour Party (Ireland)|Labour Party]] | education = | alma_mater = | spouse = Mary Cullen | children = 1
}} '''Denis Cullen''' (19 August 1886 – 26 November 1971) was an Irish [[Labour Party (Ireland)|Labour Party]] politician and trade union official.<ref name=dib>{{cite web|url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/cullen-denis-a2276|title=Cullen, Denis|last=White|first=Lawrence William|work=[[Dictionary of Irish Biography]]|access-date=1 August 2022}}</ref>
A baker by trade, during the 1910s he emerged as a leading figure in the Dublin branch of the [[Irish Bakers' National Amalgamated Union]]. At the 1918 national convention – at which the union's name was changed to the Irish Bakers, Confectioners, and Allied Workers Amalgamated Union – Cullen was elected national general secretary, commencing a twenty-five-year tenure (1918–1943), during which he was chief negotiator for both the national union and Dublin branch. He was also prominent in the leadership of the [[Irish Trades Union Congress]] (ITUC), serving almost continually on the national executive (1920–1939, 1940–1943), as treasurer (1929–1930), and for two terms as president (1925–1926, 1930–1931).<ref name=dib/>
In 1925 the Labour Party identified high taxation as a government weakness and decided to contest the [[Dublin North (Dáil constituency)|Dublin North]] and [[Dublin South (Dáil constituency)|Dublin South]] by-elections. Cullen, as general secretary of the [[Irish Bakers' National Amalgamated Union|Irish Bakers, Confectioners and Allied Workers Amalgamated Union]], was candidate in Dublin North with [[Thomas Lawlor (politician)|Thomas Lawlor]], Irish Municipal Employees Union, in Dublin South.<ref>Taxation In Irish Free State, ''The Times'', 19 January 1925.</ref> Neither of them were elected.<ref name=elecs_irl/>
He was elected to [[Dáil Éireann]] as a Labour Party [[Teachta Dála]] (TD) for the [[Dublin North (Dáil constituency)|Dublin North]] constituency at the [[June 1927 Irish general election|June 1927 general election]].<ref name=oireachtas_db>{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Denis-Cullen.D.1927-06-23/|title=Denis Cullen|work=Oireachtas Members Database|access-date=11 November 2008}}</ref> He lost his seat at the [[September 1927 Irish general election|September 1927 general election]] having only served 3 months as a TD.<ref name=elecs_irl>{{cite web|url=http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=1529|title=Denis Cullen|work=ElectionsIreland.org|access-date=11 November 2008}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-npo|union}} {{s-bef|before = Robert Wilson}} {{s-ttl|title = General Secretary of the [[Irish Bakers' National Amalgamated Union|Irish Bakers, Confectioners and Allied Workers Amalgamated Union]] |years = 1920s–1942}} {{s-aft|after = [[John Swift (trade unionist)|John Swift]]}} {{s-bef|before = [[William O'Brien (trade unionist)|William O'Brien]]}} {{s-ttl|title = President of the [[Irish Trades Union Congress]] |years = 1926}} {{s-aft|after = [[J. T. O'Farrell]]}} {{s-bef|before = William O'Brien}} {{s-ttl|title = Treasurer of the Irish Trade Union Congress |years = 1930}} {{s-aft|after = [[Luke Duffy]]}} {{s-bef|before = [[Thomas J. O'Connell]]}} {{s-ttl|title = President of the Irish Trade Union Congress |years = 1931}} {{s-aft|after = [[Louie Bennett]]}} {{s-end}} {{Dublin North (Dáil constituency)/TDs}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cullen, Denis}} [[Category:1886 births]] [[Category:1971 deaths]] [[Category:Irish trade union leaders]] [[Category:Labour Party (Ireland) TDs]] [[Category:Members of the 5th Dáil]] [[Category:Politicians from County Dublin]] [[Category:Trade unionists from County Dublin]] [[Category:20th-century Irish trade unionists]]