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Updated at 5.20pm
LABOUR SENATOR JIMMY Harte has formally resigned his Seanad seat nearly two years after sustaining a serious head injury after a fall in Dublin.
The Seanad was informed during the Order of Business this afternoon that the Donegal-based senator had formally resigned from the upper house.
Labour’s Seanad leader Ivana Bacik paid tribute to the Letterkenny native, saying he was “well known and well-loved by all of us”.
Harte was found unconscious with serious head injuries after an accidental fall on a Dublin street in 2013. He was found in Newmarket Square at about 4am on 16 November 2013, having earlier attended the Ireland versus Latvia football match at the Aviva Stadium.
The father-of-four was taken to St James’s Hospital but later transferred to Beaumont. Labour has previously said that Harte has been “making good progress in his recovery.
Harte was a hugely popular figure around Leinster House and politicians from all sides of the house offered their support and sympathies after the incident.
Joan Burton / TwitterJimmy Harte has had an outstanding career as a public representative. I wish Jimmy and his family the very best with his continued recovery.
— Joan Burton (@joanburton) September 23, 2015
Sen Lorraine Higgins / TwitterSad to read Jimmy Harte's retirement from the @labour parliamentary party. A great party colleague,I wish him all the best in his retirement
— Lorraine Higgins (@LorHiggins) September 23, 2015
Ivana Bacik / TwitterJust spoke in #seanad on behalf of @labour colleagues to pay tribute to @JimmyHarte on his resignation as senator
— Ivana Bacik (@ivanabacik) September 23, 2015
He joined Labour in 2010 and contested the 2011 general election in Donegal North East. He failed to win a seat, coming fourth in the three-seat constituency. Harte was subsequently elected to the Seanad Industrial and Commercial Panel in April of that year.
The resignation triggers another by-election of Oireachtas members for the vacant seat - nearly a year after Fine Gael’s John McNulty debacle. A motion will be moved in the Seanad tomorrow triggering the by-election process, which takes at least six weeks.
Speaking in the house today, Fine Gael’s Seanad leader Maurice Cummins paid tribute to Harte, saying he wished him and his family well.
Fianna Fáil Seanad leader Darragh O’Brien wished Harte “all health and happiness” in his retirement, describing him as an “absolute gentlemen” who would be missed.
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Get well soon
I wish Jimmy all the best in the future.
Wonder will Enda try and pull another stroke.
He was a great Senator for Donegal. Hope his recovery goes well.
David I wish him well in his retirement, exactly what did he do for Donegal?
Lots of red thumbs but no one can say how he was a great Senator for Donegal, maybe just one of his achievements?
You obviously have access to the Internet. how about you go to the oireachtas website and look into what he did in the seanad. Or maybe just google him and what he did for Letterkenny.
David you’re the one praising him, surely as a Labour party parliamentary assistant you could enlighten me to his achievements. It’s ok if you can’t.I was just wondering what they were.
Senators are supposed to work for all Ireland, but in particualr for his Industrial and Commercial Panel not on geographic basis
Get well soon, the behavior of his party in recent years can’t have done his health any good.
So he’s been laying on his arse for 2 years and now decides to resign – Aul pension must of matured
I hope you realise this man was in a coma.
Yeah not for 2 years he wasn’t
So what if he took his time before resigning. The man is attempting to recover from a serious head trauma. Gabby Giffords didn’t resign from Congress straight away after some psycho shot her in the head? Have a bit of compassion
Well done Gareth, you seem like a very intelligent man.
Gareth McMenamin – your name is an anagram of Cramming Methane. Coincidence? I think not.
now they can “elect” somebody in order to ready them up for the general election, just like with McNulty
The Seanad is a waste of tax payers money they were saved to protect the interests of the electorate instead like the dutifully soldiers they are they ram through whatever the Government wants
Weren’t we promised reform of the seanad after the people voted to keep it..Enda wasn’t telling porkies..was he?
Great attitude that, something doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to so let’s just get rid. The Seanad,on paper, provides a vital check and balance on the legislator similar to other upper chambers throughout the globe. Perhaps if we devoted a fraction of the time spent protesting over water charges, bin charges and Garth Brooks to reform of the Seanad it might be able to preform its duties.
Best wishes Jimmy …. he rolled up at my house canvassing for support iro Seanad election …. remember thinking when I heard he subsequently got elected …. That my brief interaction with him made me think he is of the good guys !!!! ..
Will the senators replacement end up with a Senate pension even though they will be in the job for less than six months?
No.
No
Brilliant.
That means no Govt. Senator can miss a vote and they’ll have a tough time legislating for the end of their reign of error.
It changes the balance very little actually.
Sen. Harte hasn’t been able to attend the Seanad since the accident as a result of the extent of the injuries he sustained, so he hasn’t been able to vote in the time since then.
It is always very sad when a career is cut short as a result of illness and I hope that he manages to recover his good health in time.
the opposition has been pariing for him since apparently
What an outragous comment after what Mr Harte and his family have suffered.
*outrageous
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