Dick Dowling (Irish politician)

For other people named Dick Dowling, see Dick Dowling (disambiguation).

Richard "Dick" Dowling (born 12 December 1938) is a Fine Gael politician from County Kilkenny in Ireland. He was a senator from May to November 1982, and then a Teachta Dála (TD) from November 1982 to 1987.^[1]

Dowling stood unsuccessfully as a Fine Gael candidate for Dáil Éireann in the Carlow–Kilkenny constituency at the 1981 and February 1982 general elections, and after his second defeat he was elected to the 16th Seanad on the Labour Panel. He won a Dáil seat on his third attempt at the November 1982 general election, but served only one term and stood down at the 1987 general election.^[2]

He was first elected to Kilkenny County Council in 1974, and has remained a councillor ever since, currently for the Piltown electoral area.^[2] Dowling's hometown of Newrath is near the county border with County Waterford, and Waterford city adjoins the border. The city is seeking to expand northwards across the River Suir onto land which is part of County Kilkenny, and has sought a revision of the county boundaries to enable this. Dowling has been a strong opponent of such expansion, describing the county boundary as “sacrosanct”. When the proposal was formally made in 2005, he said “We will not be satisfied with any extension. We will not give an inch.”^[3] The plan was rejected by Kilkenny councillors in December that year,^[4] but in October 2007 Waterford city council was preparing a revised plan.^[5]

References

1. ^ "Mr. Dick Dowling". Oireachtas Members Database. http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=1&HouseNum=16&MemberID=337&ConstID=206. Retrieved 2008-02-22. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Richard (Dick) Dowling's electoral history". ElectionsIreland.org. http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=3266. Retrieved 2008-02-22. 
3. ^ "Barriers go up in response to boundary extension quest". Waterford News & Star. 29 July 2005. http://archives.tcm.ie/waterfordnews/2005/07/29/story18892.asp. Retrieved 2008-02-22. 
4. ^ "City accused of trying to ‘rob’ Kilkenny land". Waterford News & Star. 9 December 2005. http://archives.tcm.ie/waterfordnews/2005/12/09/story20204.asp. Retrieved 2008-02-22. 
5. ^ "Boundary extension issue about to be re-activated". Waterford News & Star. 9 December 2005. http://archives.tcm.ie/waterfordnews/2007/10/25/story26983.asp. Retrieved 2008-02-22. 

External links

• Dick Dowling's page on the Fine Gael website

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Name	Dowling, Dick
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Date of birth	1938-12-12
Place of birth
Date of death
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