Donal John Lydon (born 7 August 1938 in Dublin) is a psychologist and a former Irish politician. He was a Fianna Fáil member of Seanad Éireann from 1987 to 2007, being elected on the Labour Panel. Professional career Lydon was educated at St Eunan's College in Letterkenny, County Donegal; University College Galway; University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin. His bachelor's degree was in sociology and English; his postgraduate work was in the area of education and psychology. Lydon has also worked as a consulting psychologist. For a number of years, he was a non-executive director of Connsbrook Productions Limited and a non-executive of Corona Holidays Limited in Dublin. He has published a number of papers in professional journals, mostly in the area of alcoholism or psychopathology in adolescents. Lydon was awarded a Council of Europe Medical Fellowship in 1977 in order to go abroad to study "Residential Treatment of Disturbed Adolescents". He was the first psychologist in Ireland to receive such a fellowship. Political career He was a member of Dublin County Council from 1985 to 1993 and was a member of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council from 1994 to 2002. He was first elected to Seanad Éireann in 1987 and was elected at all subsequent elections until his defeat at the 2007 election. He has at various times been the Senior Senate Spokesman on Justice, Senior Senate Spokesman on the Department of the Taoiseach and European Affairs, Senior Senate Spokesman on European Affairs, and laterally held the position of Spokesman on Foreign Affairs with Special Responsibility for Overseas Development Assistance and Human Rights. He has served as a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Women's Rights, the Joint Services Committee, the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Social, Community & Family Affairs and was laterally a member of the Joint Parliamentary European Affairs Committee. In February 1993, during a meeting in the council chamber of Dublin Corporation, he famously grabbed the Green Party TD Trevor Sargent in a headlock when Sargent waved a cheque, sent to him by a builder. Sargent asked the rest of the council had they been sent any checks, and if they thought that this was a case of the building sector attempting to bribe the council. Lydon was nominated as a candidate for the 23rd Seanad in 2007 and stood as a member of Fianna Fáil. His proposers included Senator Tom Morrissey, former Fianna Fáil