Catherine Murphy (politician)

Catherine Murphy (born 1 September 1953) [cite news |url=http://oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=0&HouseNum=29&MemberID=2138&ConstID=116 |title=Ms. Catherine Murphy |author= |work=Oireachtas Members Database |date= |accessdate=2008-01-04] is an Irish independent politician and sitting county councillor from Leixlip in County Kildare, and a former Teachta Dála (TD) for Kildare North.

Career

Murphy was brought up in Dublin but moved to Leixlip in 1978. She stood unsuccessfully as a Workers' Party candidate for the Leinster constituency in the European Parliament election, 1989 and for Kildare in the 1989 general election.cite web |url=http://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=3813 |title= Catherine Murphy |author= |work=ElectionsIreland.org |date= |accessdate=2008-01-04]

She first held political office in 1991 when she was elected to Kildare County Council as a Workers' Party councillor for Celbridge. When the Workers' Party split in 1992, she followed Proinsias De Rossa into the new Democratic Left, and stood unsuccessfully as a Democratic Left in Kildare at the 1992 and 1997 general elections.

After the Democratic Left's merger with the Labour Party in 1999, she was re-elected at the County Council for Leixlip, and also won a seat on Leixlip Town Council. However, she was unhappy with the merger, and subsequently left the party. She stood as n independent candidate at the 2004 local elections, and was re-elected to both her council seats.

Charlie McCreevy, the Fianna Fáil TD for Kildare North, resigned from the Dáil in November 2004 when he was appointed as a European Commissioner. Murphy contested the resulting by-election in March 2005 as an independent candidate, and won the seat. On a low turnout, she polled slightly fewer first-preference votes than Fianna Fáil's Áine Brady, but was elected on the fifth count. Her by-election campaign had the backing of several other prominent independent TDs such as Tony Gregory and Marian Harkin. [cite news |url=http://archives.tcm.ie/kildarenationalist/2005/02/23/story19398.asp |title=Murphy gets independents’ boost as campaign hots |author= |work=Kildare Nationalist |date=23 February 2005 |accessdate=2008-01-02] Murphy's campaign was based on such issues as transport, local government, affordable housing and education, and after her victory she promised to be a "thorn in he side" of the government. [cite news |url=http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2005/03/14/story974227557.asp |title=Murphy to be ‘thorn in side’ of the Government |author=Michael O’Farrell |work=Irish Examiner |date=14 March 2005 |accessdate=2008-01-04]

In the 2007 general election, she lost her seat to her by-election opponent, Áine Brady. Brady was elected on the first and Murphy held on until the last count when Fine Gael's Bernard Durkan reached the quota through by a massive transfer from his eliminated running mate. [cite web |url=http://www.electionsireland.org/counts.cfm?election=2007&cons=142&ref= |title=General Election, 24 May 2007: Kildare North |author= |work=ElectionsIreland.org |date= |accessdate=2008-01-04]

In July 2008, she regained the council seat she had formerly held before her election as a TD (due to the removal of the dual mandate) when the Councillor that replaced her, Gerry McDonagh, resigned his seat.

References

External links

* [http://www.catherinemurphy.info/ Catherine Murphy's website]

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