DÁIL DEPARTURES:OF THE 34 TDs who have confirmed they will not contest the general election, 19 are Fianna Fáil deputies and in three constituencies no sitting party deputy is going forward.
Dublin South, a five-seater, and two three-seat constituencies, Dublin North East and Roscommon-South Leitrim, will see no Fianna Fáil TDs contesting.
Senator Maria Corrigan has been selected for Fianna Fáil in Dublin South. Sitting Fianna Fáil TD Tom Kitt will retire at the election and a seat remains vacant in the constituency after former Fine Gael TD George Lee resigned the seat he won in the byelection brought about by the death of former Fianna Fáil minister Séamus Brennan.
In Dublin North East, the long-serving Fianna Fáil TD Dr Michael Woods is retiring. At a selection convention last Friday, Avril Power was chosen to contest the constituency for the party. Minister of State for the Environment Michael Finneran will retire in Roscommon-South Leitrim, and a selection convention is scheduled to take place on Sunday.
Eight Fine Gael TDs will not contest the next election. The two sitting Fine Gael TDs in Galway East, Ulick Burke and Paul Connaughton, have announced their retirement, meaning no party deputy will contest the four-seater. A similar situation applies in the three-seater Cork South West, where Jim O’Keeffe and PJ Sheehan have confirmed they are stepping down.
In Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael’s only TD Seymour Crawford will not stand again, while the only party deputy in Galway West, Pádraic McCormack, has also announced his retirement. With Bernard Allen stepping down in Cork North Central, the party also has no sitting deputy going forward in the constituency. The other Fine Gael TD not contesting is Olwyn Enright in Laois-Offaly. Fine Gael candidates are in place following selection conventions.
Four Labour TDs have confirmed they will not contest. Long-serving deputy Michael D Higgins, Labour’s only TD in the five-seat Galway West constituency, is retiring. Liz McManus, the party’s sole deputy in Wicklow, also a five-seater, is stepping down. A similar situation applies in the five-seat Dublin South Central constituency, where Mary Upton is not going forward again. In the four-seat Waterford constituency, Labour’s only TD Brian O’Shea will not contest the election.
The other Fianna Fáil TDs not going forward include four deputies who were ministers until last week: Dermot Ahern (Louth); Noel Dempsey (Meath West); Tony Killeen (Clare) and Batt O’Keeffe (Cork North West).
Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern will not contest in Dublin Central, while his brother Noel Ahern, a former minister of state, announced on Monday night he would not run again in Dublin North West. Other former ministers of state who have confirmed they will not run are: Ned O’Keeffe (Cork East); Noel Treacy (Galway East); Mary Wallace (Meath East) and Dr Jimmy Devins (Sligo-North Leitrim).
Former minister Dr Rory O’Hanlon will not contest in Cavan-Monaghan, with Seán Ardagh stepping down in Dublin South Central. Neither Beverley Flynn (Mayo) nor MJ Nolan (Carlow-Kilkenny) will go forward again.
Two Fianna Fáil TDs elected to the 30th Dáil have already left. They are former minister Martin Cullen (Waterford) and former minister of state Dr James McDaid (Donegal North East). Mr Cullen resigned as minister for arts, sport and tourism last March for health reasons. Dr McDaid, who had been without the party whip, resigned last November.
The Sinn Féin TD in Louth, Arthur Morgan, will not run again. Two Independent deputies have announced their intention not to contest.
They are former minister for health Mary Harney (Dublin Mid-West) and the Kerry South TD Jackie Healy-Rae.
Between 15 and 25 TDs normally retire at each election.
