LAST UPDATE | 16 hrs ago
SEVENTEEN FINE GAEL TDs have now announced that they will not be contesting the next general election – more than half of the party’s 33 TDs.
Meath West TD Damien English, who last year resigned from his role as a junior minister following controversy over property declarations, announced yesterday that he will not be standing in the upcoming election.
Eoghan Murphy was the first to go back in 2021, a year after the last general election, and is now writing a memoir about his 12 years in Irish politics.
The latest exit raises questions about how the departures reflects on the party’s ability to contest the next election with such a large number of exits, although Simon’s Harris’s promotion to Taoiseach does appear to have re-energised the party.
Some of those leaving Fine Gael told The Journal last yearthat they disagreed that the numbers leaving is a reflection on …