Who is Jim Gavin? From Dublin GAA supremo to presidential election candidate
Jim Gavin chairing a session of the Citizens' Assembly in 2022. File picture: Ronan Farren
Jim Gavin will run in October's presidential election as a candidate for Fianna Fáil.
Here's what you need to know.
Born in 1971 in Clondalkin, Co Dublin, Mr Gavin was involved in GAA through his local club, Round Tower GAA Club.
His parents hail from Co Clare — his father, Jimmy, came from Cree and his mother, Ann, came from Moy. His father won a county championship medal in 1964 with Cooraclare.
Mr Gavin made his senior debut with Dublin in 1993, and he went on to win a National League medal that year. He won back-to-back-to-back Leinster championships from 1993 to 1995 and won a senior All-Ireland football medal in 1995.
While he is perhaps best known for his role as Dublin manager, Mr Gavin has also had an accomplished career in the Defence Forces, rising to the rank of commandant within the air corps.
He first joined as a cadet at 18 and served as a peacekeeper with the United Nations.
Before he left the Defence Forces, he served as part of the UN’s senior leadership in Chad as part of the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad.
After retiring from the Defence Forces in 2011, Mr Gavin became involved in management with Dublin GAA.
He famously brought the county on to win five All-Irelands in a row, with six wins in total.
While Dublin manager, he kept a low profile on the sidelines, despite seven successful seasons in charge of the Dubs between 2013 and 2019.
He described his methods for coaching, saying it was important to keep his players hungry and they understood “we were never the finished product”.
“In that way, you build resilience. When we reflect on a match, we always look at the opportunities for growth,” Mr Gavin said.
After moving on from his Dublin managerial career, Mr Gavin still remained somewhat in the public eye, particularly for his recent role chairing the GAA Football Review Committee.
He also oversaw the 2022 citizens’ assembly which looked at a directly elected mayor for Dublin city, which outlined a series of recommendations to improve local government in the capital.
In 2023, he was appointed chairman of the North East Inner City Taskforce, replacing Michael Stone after controversy erupted around postering work carried out for finance minister Paschal Donohoe.
At present, Mr Gavin is the chief operations officer of the Irish Aviation Authority.
