Arthur Morgan (Irish politician)

Infobox Politician
name=Arthur Morgan
honorific-suffix = TD

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width=80px
term_start=17 May 2002
term_end=
predecessor=
successor=
birth_date=birth date and age|1954|7|23|df=y
birth_place=Omeath, County Louth
constituency=
party=Sinn Féin
office=Teachta Dála
spouse=
website=

Arthur Morgan ( _ga. Artúr Ó Muireagáin; born 23 July 1954) is a Sinn Féin TD for Louth and is party spokesperson on the Environment, Local Government and Employment. [http://www.anphoblacht.com/news/detail/17163 From Long Kesh to Leinster House] "An Phoblacht", 14 December 2006] [http://www.sinnfeinonline.com/representatives/376 Arthur Morgan TD Louth] , Sinnfeinonline.com, retrieved 8 November 2007]

Arthur Morgan was born in Omeath in County Louth. Educated locally, he joined the family fish processing company, of which he is currently a director.Roy Hattersley, [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/nireland/story/0,,746828,00.html Ballots are triumphing over bullets] , "The Observer", 30 June 2002] He is a founding member of Cooley Environmental and Health Action Committee which campaigns against Sellafield nuclear power station.

Morgan is a former Provisional Irish Republican Army prisoner. He was sentenced to 14 years in jail after being arrested on a boat on Carlingford Lough during an operation in 1977. [http://www.anphoblacht.com/news/detail/17163 From Long Kesh to Leinster House] "An Phoblacht", 14 December 2006] He served seven and a half years at Long Kesh prison, where he participated in the blanket protest, before being released in 1984.

In the 1999 European Election Morgan polled over 20,000 votes in the Leinster constituency but failed to be elected. He was however elected to Louth County Council on the same day for the Dundalk Carlingford area. In the 2002 General Election he was elected to Dáil Éireann as a Sinn Féin TD and retained his seat in the 2007 General Election.

In a Dáil debate on the budget on 6 March 2008, Morgan launched a strong attack on the government's economic policy, saying that "There is more social conscience in a cat’s arse than there is in the entire Fianna Fáil parliamentary party." Condemning a Government proposal to give tax breaks for the development of private hospices, he asked "Why would I expect any different from a Tánaiste and a Government over this partial Parliament in this little semi-statelet over which he is presiding?" His remarks were criticised by Fianna Fáil deputy Martin Mansergh, who claimed that Sinn Fein "does not have any coherent economic policy that I am aware of" and said that he has "always had great difficulty understanding so called republicans who do not recognise this Republic".cite web |url=http://debates.oireachtas.ie/DDebate.aspx?F=DAL20080306.xml&Node=632
title=Official Report (Dáil Éireann), Vol. 649 No. 3: Finance Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stages
date=6 March 2008
publisher=Oireachtas
accessdate=2008-03-28] cite news |url=http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0307/1204843531556.html
title=Mansergh and Morgan clash over private hospitals
author=Michael O'Regan
date=7 March 2008 |work=The Irish Times |accessdate=2008-03-28] Deputy Michael Finneran added that "if it was not for him and his fellow travellers we would have had considerably more money to invest in many projects over the years instead of needing to spend it on security to protect the State."

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