Paddy Lalor, one of the three Fianna Fáil TDs for Laois–Offaly, did not contest the 1981 general election. Fianna Fáil again put forward four candidates, but this time Hyland was the first of three to be elected, taking his seat in the 22nd Dáil.[3] He was re-elected at the five subsequent general elections, of February 1982, November 1982, 1987, 1989 and 1992.[4]
In February 1992, when Albert Reynolds succeeded as Taoiseach, Hyland was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture and Food with special responsibility for rural enterprise by the Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats government.[5][6] In January 1993, he was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry with special responsibility for forestry and rural development by the Fianna Fáil–Labour Party coalition government.[7][8]
^Agriculture, Food and Forestry (Delegation of Ministerial Functions) (No. 2) Order 1993 (S.I. No. 46 of 1993). Signed on 27 January 1993. Statutory Instrument of the Government of Ireland. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book on 29 September 2022.