Frank O'Rourke (born 15 May 1967) is an Irish former

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 Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christian- ...

politician who 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) for the Kildare North constituency from 2016 to 2020. O'Rourke was born in

Sligo Sligo ( ; ga, Sligeach , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of approximately 20,000 in 2016, it is the List of urban areas ...

in 1967. He is a native of County Leitrim, O'Rourke was first co-opted onto Kildare County Council in January 2011 to replace Paul Kelly. He retained his seat in the 2014 local elections, topping the poll in 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 ...

- Leixlip local electoral area, with 1,814 first preference votes. At the 2016 general election, he was elected as a Fianna Fáil TD for Kildare North 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 ...

, and was subsequently appointed as Fianna Fáil junior spokesperson on Financial Services, eGovernment and Procurement by party leader Micheál Martin. O'Rourke lost his seat at the

2020 general election The following elections were scheduled to occur in 2020. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems maintains a comprehensive list of upcoming elections on its E-Guide Platform. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calend ...

. He blamed his defeat on a smear campaign against him, which involved both social media posts and leaflets, and took legal proceedings against

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

and

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

seeking to identify the people involved. The orders were granted in late 2020, and Twitter supplied the information sought. However, Facebook claimed to be unable to retrieve the data.

References

External links

Frank O'Rourke's page on the Fianna Fáil website
{{DEFAULTSORT:ORourke, Frank 1969 births Living people Members of the 32nd Dáil Fianna Fáil TDs Members of Kildare County Council Alumni of the Institute of Technology, Sligo