Jim Glennon

James Glennon (born 7 July 1953) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician and former Irish International rugby player. He was a Teachta Dála for Dublin North from 2002 to 2007.^[1]

Glennon was born in Skerries, County Dublin in 1953. He was educated at Mount St. Joseph's school in Roscrea, County Tipperary. A former rugby union international he was capped six times for Ireland as a second row forward. He is a former coach and manager to the Leinster senior team and is also a former manager to the Ireland under 19 and Ireland under 21 teams. His uncle Gerrard McGowan was a Labour Party TD in the 1930s.^[2]

Glennon was elected to the 21st Seanad in a Seanad by-election on the Industrial and Commercial Panel in June 2000.^[3] He served in Seanad Éireann until he was elected to the 29th Dáil for Dublin North at the 2002 general election.^[4][5] Glennon was vice-chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs from 2002 to 2007. He was also a member of the Oireachtas Transport Committee and of the Oireachtas Committee on Procedures and Privileges. Glennon chaired a session of the Dublin Forum – a Fianna Fáil project to allow Dublin residents discuss issues of political significance. He was part of the TV3 Rugby World Cup coverage in 2007.

In October 2006, Glennon surprisingly announced that he would not be standing at the 2007 general election.^[6]

In April 2026, Glennon apologised for providing a positive character reference for a convicted child sexual abuser, Daniel Ramamoorthy, when such child abuser appealed the severity of his sentence. He apologised for being 'naive' in choosing to support the appeal.^[7]