DEPARTING THE DAIL:TOM KITT has one regret as he leaves Dáil politics – that "I didn't make it one more step up the ladder". He was a minister of state for all of Fianna Fáil's time in office from 1997 until Taoiseach Brian Cowen's reshuffle in 2009.
A TD for 27 years he got his first experience as a minister of state during the administration of Albert Reynolds who appointed him in 1992. But after four years as government chief whip and 14 years in total as a minister of state, the Taoiseach failed to promote him to full Cabinet rank.
The Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin South acknowledges he had “a rush of blood to the head” and considered leaving politics then, but decided to stand down at the general election.
Martin Cullen had bowed out of the Cabinet and Dáil because of illness and “there was an expectation that I’d go up. It didn’t happen. I’m now much more relaxed about where I am. I’ve had time to reflect.”
He reckons he “probably would have had one more term. An awful lot of colleagues asked me to reconsider. At the back of my mind I was leaving a slight door open if there was a change of leader. But that’s not happening now. That door is shut.”
Now 58, as he reflects on his various portfolios, he says: “I’m conscious that many TDs didn’t get be a minister of state and when you get to do four years as chief whip, I’d say I brought my own style to that job. I worked hard on making sure the chamber was non-confrontational.”
A son of the late Michael Kitt, a TD and minister of state from Galway East, he is one of three siblings in the Dáil with his sister Minister of State Áine Brady and brother Michael, a former minister of state.
Moving to Ballinteer in Dublin for his job as a primary school teacher, he became a local councillor in 1979, and a TD in 1987. “I was one of the dissident 22 TDs who opposed Mr Haughey. When Albert took over, I was appointed minister of state in the department of the taoiseach.”
He added overseas aid in the department of foreign affairs to his portfolio, a position he has held twice. “We introduced three-year funding so there would be certainty about multi-annual payments and we were pushing the whole idea of volunteerism.”
That job was his again from 2002 to 2004, the year Ireland had the EU presidency. “There were two people we brought into the Irish team – Bono and Bob Geldof.”
He is proud of “introducing development funding for the private sector” which has proved successful in countries such as Mozambique. And he is happy with his involvement in the peace process as minister of state when Brian Cowen was minister for foreign affairs.
He now feels: “I can bring some of that experience to some other areas including the whole development side, bringing some of my expertise to NGOs [non-governmental organisations]”. He is also a non-executive director with Healy’s Health, a company employing 80 people.
Reflecting on his Dublin South constituency he reckons he spent so much time doing Saturday clinics for his constituency that he “definitely missed out a lot on family time”.
The average constituency problem was entitlements. Housing used to be “the big one”. But now “people go directly to the council”.
He gets queries such as Section 23, “writing off tax vis-à-vis rental income”. He notes that south Dublin constituents “have quite strong opinions on policy”. The job of a TD also entails “a lot of lobbying” whether it’s for a swimming pool, sports clubs or schools.
His advice to potential TDs? “Make sure you go with your beliefs. It’s also important too if you have particular areas of interests to stick to them. You just can’t walk in without a clear focus of what you want to bring to politics.”
