Tony Dempsey

Tony Dempsey (born 11 May 1944) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician. He is a former TD for the constituency of Wexford.

Tony Dempsey is a native of Davidstown, County Wexford, and was educated at Enniscorthy Christian Brothers School, University College Dublin and St. Patrick's College, Maynooth. Prior to his entry to politics, he worked as a secondary schoolteacher and was a principal teacher of a large secondary school in Enniscorthy at the time of his election.

Dempsey was best known, however, for his involvement with Gaelic games in County Wexford. He had been appointed chairman of Wexford County Board (the governing body of the Gaelic Athletic Association in the county) in 1976 at the age of 35, becoming one of the youngest ever persons to hold the position, and he had been heavily involved with inter-county hurling and Gaelic football teams in Wexford either as a trainer, selector or manager. He trained the Wexford Junior Gaelic football team to a Leinster championship in 2000 when they defeated Dublin in the final. At the time of his election, he was manager of the Wexford Senior Hurling team.

Dempsey was first elected to Dáil Éireann in the 2002 general election. This was the first time that he had stood for election at any level. He had been chosen as a candidate in the hope of increasing Fianna Fáil's vote and obtaining three seats out of five in the constituency for the party. However, the strategy was unsuccessful and while Dempsey was elected, it was at the expense of a party colleague, Hugh Byrne.

Dempsey failed to make much impact as a member of Dáil Éireann, and retired at the 2007 general election.

External links

* [http://www.fiannafail.ie/person.php4?show=TD&pid=159&bid=269 Tony Dempsey's page on the Fianna Fáil website]
* [http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=4868 Tony Dempsey's electoral history] (ElectionsIreland.org)

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