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Denis Naughten says he is leaving politics to try his hand at 'something different'

The TD said that he doesn’t have a new gig lined up.

INDEPENDENT TD DENIS Naughten has said he feels it time to “try my hand at something different”, following his announcement that he will resign from the Dáil before the next election.

The Roscommon–Galway TD revealed last night that he will not stand in the constituency the next time out, with a general election due to be held no later than 2025. 

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland today, also Naughten said that he doesn’t have a new job lined up after he leaves politics, but that he would like to work at “building stronger relationships” between scientists and politicians in the future. 

Naughten has been an Independent TD for the Roscommon-Galway constituency since 2016. From 2007 to 2016 he was TD for Roscommon-South Leitrim, and from 1997 to 2007 he was a TD for the Longford-Roscommon constituency. 

In a statement released yesterday Naughten said that he had decided for “both personal and professional reasons, after giving 26 years of my life to national politics that now is the time to step back and explore new opportunities.” 

He was previously with Fine Gael, but he left the party in 2011 after he lost the party whip for voting against Fine Gael’s motions on cuts to emergency services at Roscommon Hospital. 

Asked whether his stance on the cuts made a difference on radio this morning, Naughten said: “We had a situation where politicians say one thing at an election and do a different thing soon afterwards. In this case, there was a clear written commitment from the incoming Minister for Health.” 

“In all honesty, I couldn’t stand by a situation where you had the three most senior people in the country giving a commitment in relation to a hospital and then turning their back on it,” he added. 

Naughten served as Minister for Communications following the 2016 general election, but he ultimately resigned from the post following controversy surrounding a series of meetings he had with the lead bidder of Ireland’s national broadband plan. 

At the time Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said Naughten had left himself open to the perception of a conflict of interest. 

Asked if he regrets his meetings with David McCourt several years on, Naughten said that “in hindsight, you would naturally do things differently”. 

“At the time I was more than committed to getting this project over the line. There was a single bidder left in the process

“The other two bidders had pulled out of it. I knew that if this collapsed we would never see fiber optic cable in rural Ireland.

“The reality is there was huge vested interest against making this happen. And it is happening and it will be delivered and it will transform our society and our economy, just like rural electrification did such a long time ago.”

Naughten said that there will “always be challenges” in a rural constituency such as his, but that he believes that broadband access will level out “access to services’ across the country.

He added that he believes that the urban regeneration fund and the rural regeneration fund will ‘transform many of our towns and villages”. 

He also said that he believes that the “new scheme to refurbish vacant properties will have a transformative effect”. 

Reflecting on what has changed in politics since he started out in 1997, Naughten said that he thinks social media has helped politicians to be able to communicate more effectively with the electorate, but that it has also brought “huge challenges as well”. 

“That’s why as Communications Minister, I was such a strong advocate for a digital Safety Commissioner, which at long last, is now in place,” he added. 

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    Mute Begrudgy
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    Mar 25th 2013, 4:43 PM

    Great news.

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    Mute John Burke
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    Mar 25th 2013, 4:48 PM

    I thought the minister for cant do won’t do said it was unconstitutional? Do ministers get it wrong????

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    Mute Cillian Murphy
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    Mar 25th 2013, 4:54 PM

    And the self same minister also told us it was unconstitutional to reduce ex-Ministerial and ex-Taoiseach pensions…I wonder if he was wrong with that as well??

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    Mute Emily Elephant
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    Mar 25th 2013, 5:03 PM

    It’s two different questions. It’s unconstitutional for the state to take away upward only rent review unless it compensates the landlord (which is much too expensive). This case is about what “upward rent review” meant in the specific lease. It doesn’t get rid of the clause – it just says that it doesn’t mean what the landlord wanted it to mean. (Lawyer’s screw-up.)

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    Mute Sheik Yahbouti
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    Mar 25th 2013, 4:50 PM

    At last, a sane and sensible ruling on a matter ridiculous as to be incomprehensible. Well done, Mr. Justice Charleton.

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    Mute Marc Anthony Power
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    Mar 25th 2013, 5:10 PM

    Finally. .. sense is starting to show is face. … for to many years greedy landlords have ruined many potentially viable businesses

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    Mute Frank2521
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    Mar 25th 2013, 4:48 PM

    About time. Will it be retrospective? A lot of landlords worried tonight.

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    Mute Brian
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    Mar 25th 2013, 6:20 PM

    Any ruling that goes against Johnny feckin Ronan is alright by me.

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    Mute Kevin Smyth
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    Mar 25th 2013, 10:08 PM

    Johnny Ronan is a pirate.

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    Mute glangaurdatyabowsey
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    Mar 25th 2013, 4:49 PM

    fair ruling, but at the end of the day the landlord can set the rent and the tennant can choose to stay or go.

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    Mute James Comerford
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    Mar 25th 2013, 4:51 PM

    Well done, and your attitude will have the streets of our town and citys void of business. Is that what you wanted to achieve when posting such a ridiculously ill researched comment.

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    Mute John Doyle
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    Mar 25th 2013, 4:57 PM

    Its not that ridiculous of a comment. But Anybody who thought Upwards only rent was a good thing must’ve been high on something.

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    Mute John Stenson
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    Mar 25th 2013, 9:11 PM

    If you’ve nothing sensible to say then do us all a favour and say nothing.. if everyone had your attitude to business there wouldn’t be a business left in the country..

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    Mute Ignoreland
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    Mar 25th 2013, 5:51 PM

    This all came down to the particularity of the clause in the contract in that it said rent couldn’t fall lower than as agreed in 1987, and not “lower than was agreed at the previous agreement”. So if the lease contains a clause to the effect that the rent cannot fall lower than the most recent previously agreed level, then unfortunately this judgment isn’t going to have much of an impact.

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    Mute Alan Madden
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    Mar 25th 2013, 7:12 PM

    Fock Johnny Ronan. Another contributor to this beautiful mess we are in. Delighted with the ruling.

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    Mute Sham Rock
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    Mar 25th 2013, 6:21 PM

    On prima facie evidence, this is good news. It will be no harm for our builder class to abide by the rules of capitalism at all times, not just when it suits them.

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    Mute Jason Bourne
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    Mar 25th 2013, 5:50 PM

    Good news for sure.

    Anyone know if upwardly rent is common around the world or is it just another Irish basketcase example?

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    Mute Emily Elephant
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    Mar 25th 2013, 8:38 PM

    Here & UK. Nowhere else AFAIK.

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    Mute Richard McCarthy
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    Mar 25th 2013, 8:45 PM

    A lot of rental contracts in some US states are on a short term lease bases,not anything like the long term rigid leases seen in Ireland, with the rental dependent on market conditions,it makes for a very flexible system.

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    Mute John Clarke
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    Mar 25th 2013, 8:43 PM

    This is a very wise and right decision by high court. These UORR’s were a throw back to the greed and excesses of the Celtic tiger years and are now putting people’s jobs in jeopardy. Rents should be set taking into account current market conditions/rates, and in any direction.

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    Mute Andrew Telford
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    Mar 25th 2013, 6:31 PM

    Can anyone enlighten ass to what was the intended purpose or benefit of this upward only legislation… Because I pretty much suspect it came about as a pure consequence of a a brown escalope trading hands on a golf course and serves no purpose

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    Mute Colin Tyrrell
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    Mar 25th 2013, 6:59 PM

    This ain’t the place to ‘enlighten ass’.

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    Mute dowthebow
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    Mar 26th 2013, 5:58 AM

    Or trade “brown escalopes”!!

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    Mute Richard McCarthy
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    Mar 25th 2013, 8:25 PM

    While very welcome this ruling comes too late for the many premisess across the country that were forced to close,this interference in the marketplace was and still is the main cause of the many job losses still seen across every town and shopping mall in the state.

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    Mute Andrea Rock Massey
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    Mar 25th 2013, 9:00 PM

    It won’t make any difference to the majority of business owners unfortunately. It is only happening for Bewleys because of a particular clause in their lease. If such clauses were in other leases we would have seen more cases like this already. UORR are counter productive and hopefully someday, something will actually be done about them. Do many businesses have shut their doors already because of them.

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    Mute Andrea Rock Massey
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    Mar 25th 2013, 9:02 PM

    *Too many businesses*

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    Mute Pat O Neill
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    Mar 25th 2013, 10:32 PM

    Hang on a second. Before the celebrations lets consider what has really happened here. Regardless of the merits of the particular clause put into this agreement (ok it’s fairly one sided) the courts have put their size 12′s into the middle of a legally binding agreement between two free and lawful parties whose spirit has now been violated. Forget for a second the current disadvantage to either party – that’s business after all. I for one do not like the idea of our judiciary taking what could be seen as a populist semi-political stance on a legal agreement between two parties engaged in of their own free will. When is a contract a contract? When is it OK for us to engage in an agreement and not be afraid the nanny state will rescind it?
    There can be very good reasons for UORR’s – like a fixed mortgage repayment schedule. This is a bad day for freedom, commerce and investment. It will end up like so many recent sticking plaster solutions to this mess we are in and will hurt a lot of people in unintended ways. No one will make another speculative commercial investment in this country for a long time. We never needed brave investors more and now we are thumbing our noses at them. There are no set rules anymore, young people should leave this basket-case banana republic as soon as they get a chance, this is going to take a generation to fix judging by the way we are going about it.

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    Mute brian magee
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    Mar 26th 2013, 12:20 AM

    How do new Bewleys not own the building? They’ve been there so long, did they own it and sell it?

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    Mute Mark Salmon
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    Mar 26th 2013, 7:17 AM

    1. Very few other countries see the need for these contracts.
    2. Most of them are doing better than Ireland.
    3. Prices rise and fall, thats commerce. Fixing prices is interference with market forces.
    4. It’s the duty of the courts to interpret contract clauses in disputes, that’s why they are there.

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    Mute Sergé
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    Mar 25th 2013, 9:04 PM

    If Bewley’s rent does indeed fall by 50 per cent, I would like to see even a modest decrease in the level of prices. Somehow I don’t see that happening.

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