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WITH CURRENT POLLS showing Labour is likely to lose a lot of seats at the next general election it’s perhaps no surprise that some TDs are opting not to stand again.
The party is at 7 per cent according to the latest Red C/Sunday Business Post poll, well short of the 19 per cent it won in 2011 when it secured a record 37 seats.
In the four years since then Labour has lost five TDs, who have quit the party for a variety of reasons but primarily because of the junior coalition partner’s decisions in government.
Its current Dáil numbers stand at 32 and of those six have now indicated that they won’t be going for re-election:
1. Michael Conaghan
The Dublin South-Central TD took the second of two Labour seats in the constituency in 2011 and told his wife that if he ever got elected to the Dáil he would only do one term.
The 70-year-old former teacher was a long-serving Labour councillor and told the Irish Times last month that he found the Dáil a “disappointing” place to work with more tangible work done on the city council.
Sitting TD Eric Byrne and councillor Rebecca Moynihan have put themselves forward for the selection convention in a constituency that’s gone from five seats to four.
2. Eamon Gilmore
The former tánaiste and Labour leader announced his retirement from politics at the beginning of June. He has been a TD for Dún Laoghaire since 1989 and led his party to a historic seat haul in 2011. But he was badly bruised by his time as tánaiste and resigned after Labour’s disastrous local and European elections performance last year.
Speaking after his decision, Gilmore told RTÉ last month:
Nobody goes on forever. At some stage I was going to have to decide to finish with politics and I decided now was the appropriate time to do that. It gives the party the best part of a year to put a new candidate in place.
Senator Aideen Hayden, party activist David Traynor and Labour councillors Deirdre Kingston and Carrie Smyth have put their names for the selection in Dún Laoghaire.
3. Sean Kenny
The Dublin North-East TD’s constituency has become part of Dublin Bay North where junior minister Áodhán Ó Ríordáin is expected to run. Kenny declined to comment when asked if he was stepping down, but a Labour spokesperson confirmed he would be earlier today.
The 72-year-old was a long-time member of Dublin City Council and formerly a TD for Dublin North-East between 1992 and 1997. During this spell in the Dáil he called for ‘cowardly’ internet trolls to get up to two years in prison and was responsible for one of the most famous tweets in Irish political history:
(The egg mystery was later solved)
As well as Ó Ríordáin, councillors Jane Horgan-Jones and Alison Gilliland are also likely to put their names forward at the constituency selection convention.
4. Ruairí Quinn
The former Labour leader was first out of the blocks last year, announcing that he planned to step down as a TD for Dublin South-East at the next election just before he was dropped as education minister in July.
https://vine.co/v/MUWIUHJIYtV
The 69-year-old has been an almost consistent presence in the Oireachtas since he was first elected to the Seanad in 1976. As well as leading the Labour party for five years between 1997 and 2002 he also held three different cabinet portfolios, including finance and enterprise in the 1990s.
Junior minister Kevin Humphreys will be seeking re-election in the renamed Dublin Bay South constituency with Labour senator Ivana Bacik also thought to be interested in running.
5. Pat Rabbitte
Rabbitte is another former party leader who announced earlier this week that he will not be seeking re-election in Dublin South-West having served as a TD there since 1989. The former communications minister was dropped from cabinet last year amid reports of having a face “like thunder”. Although he hasn’t confirmed if that was the case:
The former trade unionist led Labour from 2002 to 2007 and was also a minister of state in the 1990s. He has maintained an active media presence since he was relieved of his ministerial responsibilities last year, but he WON’T be writing a steamy novel.
His departure paves the way for sitting TD Eamonn Maloney to be the Labour candidate in the competitive five-seat constituency.
6. Jack Wall
The Labour parliamentary party chairperson announced earlier today that he will not be seeking re-election in Kildare South.
A former electrician and county councillor, Wall has been described as “one of politics’ true gentlemen” by his party leader Joan Burton today.
His departure paves the way for his son Mark, who is a Kildare county councillor, to run for his seat at the next general election.
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Glad I don’t know anything about utorrent, vpn and peer blocker.
@B9xiRspG: I also don’t know what Usenet is, it might be safer than torrents but I don’t know anything.
@purple rain: I don’t know what a tracker mortgage is.
@Drew P. Baulsach: neither do the banks
@Ian Shannon: brilliant comment.
@Drew P. Baulsach: brilliant
Stop ripping people off and they won’t pirate. Simple.
Greatest things that have encouraged people not to pirate have been Netflix and Spotify. All they had to do was provide entertainment for a reasonable amount instead of at an absurd mark up and suddenly people were more than happy to pay for it.
Meanwhile I’m gonna continue my practice of paying for stuff that’s reasonably priced but streaming stuff I’d never switch to Sky (and have to buy a satellite dish for) in a million years coz they hold it ransom on Atlantic.
Also; who in the ever-loving still downloads. Stream away!!!
@Bryan Kelly:
download a movie and in two years time buy the dvd for 3 euro……..conscience sorted.
@Bryan Kelly: You could add Steam for gaming to that list as well. There is certainly a point of price and convenience where most people will pay rather than torrent.
@Bryan Kelly: Don’t know why anyone would stream tbh, you need fibre optic to stream decent quality, amaze me people stream crap quality content and then buy 4K TVs to stream it on lol
@Bryan Kelly: well said
@Philip Mckenna: Get onto your TD about that high speed they promised the whole country and have now pushed back a couple decades.
No problem up here.
4K TV? Oooh look at me the millionaire!
@Philip Mckenna: ive a bog standard 100 mb connection and stream in 1080p perfectly so not sure what you mean
@Rochelle: Steam right? You’ve got EA releasing games where you don’t even get the full game and have to pay extra for it as DLC. Or remember that whole No Man’s Sky scam? And they wonder why sales are down…
You wouldn’t steal a car. True, but if I could download one…
@Dave Malone: 3D printing?
@Fake Avast: They’re also replicating guitars (and everything else). Gladly a few people here were caught by sub standard materials and tradesmanship. €2500 guitar for €250 euro delivered. Alarm bells!
It’s a victimless crime, like punching someone in the dark.
@Professor Goodfeels: and a victimless crime is??? Not a crime.
@Tom Phelan: yawn
@Fake Avast: or he’s quoting The Simpsons
Insurance Companies have been streaming the entire population for years…
@Tomas: Thats allowed in ireland
Excellent article Rónàn. I’m still none the wiser if I’m breaking the law, but it appears Ray Foley is talking bollox. Nothing new there.
Can i still be a priest
Beats paying the ridiculous cinema prices
Mad what can be achieved on the line today
So the article says ‘without permission or without paying’ How do I know if I have permission? I once went through a no unauthorised entry sign…got stopped and told the security guard that I got authorised by my mother (sitting in the seat beside me). So who do I get authorised by and how do I know they are actually the person to grant authority? As regards paying….so my payment to help run a website I download a movie from….that is payment, right?
Anyone else think this article could have been shortened? A bit repetitive.
As for IPTV (get on it)… Guilty!!!!
Very good article
‘What people mightn’t realise is that by streaming illegal content, a user’s computer is still making a copy of it, even if that copy is temporary in nature and stored on the computer’s cache.’
That’s not always true. And is a misrepresentation of cache.
What if someone was an avid cinema goer and Blu-ray collector that tried out a few downloads that they received to see of they wanted to experience it in the cinema? Does European law not dictate we must receive a service before we pay for it? Or somerhing along those lines!
If the eejits who own the movies started releasing them online themselves for a small fee the peer to peer industry would evaporate over night.
Think Netflix for cinema releases !
All the big major companies were caught of guard with the net, it came on so quickly and it 2 late now lol, I see there clamping down on YouTube n a big way ,that’s a great example of how they were caught unawares,stuff u could watch for free on YouTube until while back was brilliant
We are forced by law to pay for a TV license. That fee goes to pay for movies and shows on telly from America. We can record them and watch them whenever we want. Why should we not be able to download or stream those same shows as having a copy to watch at home which we already pay for and is legal and basically is the same thing.
have your say