Ted Tynan

Ted Tynan is a leading member of the Workers Party of Ireland.

Ted Tynan was born in Cork city in 1942. He joined Sinn Féin in his early 20s and was one of those who fought to have the party adopt a socialist political platform in its development as it transformed into the Workers' Party.

Tynan was involved in a large variety of campaigning activities in his native city, including a long-running rent strike in protest at housing conditions and the lack of local authority housing. He became identified with a number of issues around the ownership of natural resources and participated in several militant actions including the Fish-Ins in which people engaged in civil disobedience by fishing in rivers where the fishing rights were privately held by Anglo-Irish ascendancy families. Tynan was very active in the Mayfield Tenants Association and participated in the occupation of a number of houses in order to prevent the eviction of families in rent arrears.

Ted Tynan stood in a number of elections and was elected to Cork City Council in 1979 as a member for the North East Ward. He also contested a Dáil by-election in the same year, polling over 3,000 first preference votes. In 1982 he stood down from the council, his seat being handed over to his then party colleague John Kelleher.

In 1990 Tynan was one of five Cork city householders jailed for the non-payment of local authority service charges which were seen as a form of double taxation on PAYE (tax category} workers. Tynan again faced jail in the late 1990s for the same issue and continues to oppose service charges as a member of Householders Against Service Charges.

In 1992 Ted Tynan led those in Cork opposed to the attempts of Proinsias De Rossa who as President of The Workers' Party failed to push through a series of controversial measures which Tynan and others on the left saw as a betrayal of the party's socialist politics. These included the standing down of the entire party membership with readmittance on a selective basis and the granting of increased power to the parliamentary bloc.

Tynan contested local elections again in 1999 and 2004 when he increased his vote significantly and narrowly failed to win a seat.] [http://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?id=3099 Elections Ireland database site]

Ted Tynan continues to be active as a member of the Workers' party in the Mayfield area and is involved in numerous campaigns. Most notable of his current campaigns is the Free the Old Head of Kinsale campaign to restore public access to the historic Co. Cork Headland.

Ted Tynan is married with three grown-up children.

Mr. Tynan was an unsuccessful Workers' Party candidate in the 2007 General Election in the Cork North Central constituency.

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