James A. "Jim" Corr (born 25 January 1934[1]) is an Irish politician and retired secondary school teacher[1][2] and principal[3] of South Presentation school.[4]
Corr is a member of Cork city council.[5][6] He was first co-opted to the council (then called Cork Corporation) in 1973,[2] and elected at the 1974 local elections.[2] He was Lord Mayor of Cork in 1979[2][3][7] and 1996.[3][7]
When the five-seat Cork South Central Dáil Éireann constituency was created in 1980, Fine Gael's support was sufficient for two seats. Peter Barry was the party's senior Teachta Dála (TD);[8] Corr had a rivalry with Hugh Coveney for the second Fine Gael seat.[8][9] Coveney narrowly beat Corr in the 1981 election,[8][10] but Corr won by a larger margin in February 1982.[1][8][10] Becoming disillusioned with Dáil politics,[11][12] Corr stood aside in November 1982,[1][8][12] with Coveney regaining the seat.[8] Corr was to stand as a third Fine Gael candidate in the 1987 general election, but stood aside to avoid splitting the Fine Gael vote,[12] though Coveney lost his seat in any event. Corr was unsuccessful at the 1989[10] and 1992[5] elections.
Corr was unhappy that John Cushnahan was selected ahead of him as Fine Gael candidate in Munster in the 1989 European Parliament election.[13][14] Corr stood unsuccessfully in Munster in the 1999 election.[5]
Corr taught geography, and wrote a school textbook in 1972.[15] He spent six years working in Africa.[4] He was a trade union activist,[8] and considered on the left wing of Fine Gael in the early 1980s.[16] He was appointed to the Board of Bord Gáis in 1997.[3] He has been chairman of the advisory board of European Cities Against Drugs since 2002.[17]