Emmet Stagg (born 1 October 1944) is an Irish former
Labour Party politician who served as Labour Party Chief Whip from 2007 to 2016,
Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications from 1994 to 1997 and
Minister of State at the Department of the Environment from 1993 to 1994. He served as a
Teachta Dála
A Teachta Dála ( , ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament). It is the equivalent of terms such as ''Member of Parli ...
(TD) from 1987 to 2016.
Early life
Stagg was born at
Hollymount
Hollymount () is a village on the R331 regional road in County Mayo, Ireland. It lies midway between the towns of Ballinrobe and Claremorris in the plains of south Mayo. It has a post office, a mini-mart, a community centre (Cois Abhainn), a ...
,
County Mayo
County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the Taxus baccata, yew trees") is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Conn ...
, and was one of thirteen siblings raised by parents, including his brother
Frank Stagg. Stagg has described his childhood in Mayo as being gripped by poverty and by the rule of the Catholic Church.
He educated at
Ballinrobe
Ballinrobe () is a town in County Mayo in Ireland. It is located on the River Robe, which empties into Lough Mask two kilometres to the west. As of the 2016 census, the population was 2,786.
History Foundation and development
Ballinrobe is con ...
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
school and
Kevin Street College of Technology. He worked as a medical technologist at
Trinity College Dublin
, name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin
, motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin)
, motto_lang = la
, motto_English = It will last i ...
before entering full-time politics.
Political career
He was elected in 1979 to represent the
Celbridge
Celbridge (; ) is a town and townland on the River Liffey in County Kildare, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is west of Dublin. Both a local centre and a commuter town within the Greater Dublin Area, it is located at the intersection of the ...
area on
Kildare County Council
Kildare County Council ( ga, Comhairle Contae Chill Dara) is the authority responsible for local government in County Kildare, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for housin ...
for the
Labour Party, serving until 1993. He was elected again in 1999, serving until 2003. Stagg was first elected to
Dáil Éireann
Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland read ...
at the
1987 general election for the
Kildare
Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 8,634 making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. The town lies on the R445, some west of Dublin – near enough for it to have become, despite being a regional cen ...
constituency.
He then served as Labour front bench spokesperson on a number of areas, including Agriculture (1987–89) and Social Welfare (1989–92).
During the 1980s and early 1990s, Stagg was a prominent figure within the internal politics of the Labour Party, being viewed along with
Michael D. Higgins
Michael Daniel Higgins ( ga, MÃcheál Dónal Ó hUigÃnn; born 18 April 1941) is an Irish politician, poet, sociologist, and broadcaster, who has served as the ninth president of Ireland since November 2011. Entering national politics throug ...
and
Joe Higgins as one of the leaders of the left-wing faction within the party opposed to coalition with
Fine Gael
Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil à ...
, and as a prominent opponent of the then party leader
Dick Spring
Dick Spring (born 29 August 1950) is an Irish businessman and former politician. He was a Labour Party Teachta Dála (TD) for the Kerry North from 1981 to 2002. He became leader of the Labour Party in 1982, and held this position until 1997 ...
. He opposed the expulsion of Joe Higgins and
Militant Tendency
The Militant tendency, or Militant, was a Trotskyism, Trotskyist group in the British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, organised around the ''Militant'' newspaper, which launched in 1964. According to Michael Crick, its politics were based on the t ...
at the 1989 conference, and in the early 1990s he considered leaving the party and joining the newly formed
Democratic Left, though he ultimately chose to stay with the party. In the
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtà Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christian- ...
–Labour Party coalition government formed after the
1992 general election, he became
Minister of State
Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...
at the Department of the Environment, with special responsibility for Housing and Urban Renewal.
Stagg was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications in 1994, in the newly formed
Rainbow Coalition Government.
He lost his seat at the
2016 general election,
[ having served as a TD for 29 consecutive years.]
He was the Labour Party candidate for Kildare North at the 2020 general election. At age 75, he was the oldest candidate in the entire general election, but was not elected.
Phoenix Park scandal
In 1994, while Minister of State, Stagg became the subject of a major press scandal after Gardaà had found him the previous November loitering in an area of Dublin's Phoenix Park
The Phoenix Park ( ga, Páirc an Fhionnuisce) is a large urban park in Dublin, Ireland, lying west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. Its perimeter wall encloses of recreational space. It includes large areas of grassland and tre ...
used by male prostitutes. He was questioned by the Gardaà but no charges were filed against him.[ According to '']The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', public anger was largely focused on the member of the Gardaà who leaked details to the media despite no crime being committed.
Personal life
Emmet Stagg's brother Frank Stagg was a Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reun ...
member, who died in a British prison in 1976 while on hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...
. Emmett and his brothers quarrelled over whether Frank should be buried with his family, or in a dedicated "Republican" plot. The resulting dispute, into which the Irish government directly intervened, escalated into mayhem that resulted in the body of Frank Stagg being buried three separate times.
References
External links
Emmet Stagg's page on the Labour Party website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stagg, Emmet
1944 births
Living people
Alumni of Dublin Institute of Technology
Labour Party (Ireland) TDs
Local councillors in County Kildare
Members of the 25th Dáil
Members of the 26th Dáil
Members of the 27th Dáil
Members of the 28th Dáil
Members of the 29th Dáil
Members of the 30th Dáil
Members of the 31st Dáil
Ministers of State of the 27th Dáil
Politicians from County Mayo