John Halligan (born 18 January 1955) is an Irish former

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

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

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

constituency from 2011 to 2020. He also served as

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 ...

from 2016 to 2020. He was first elected to the

Waterford City Council Waterford City Council ( ga, Comhairle Cathrach Phort Láirge) was the authority responsible for local government in the city of Waterford in Ireland until 2014. As a city council, it was governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council ...

in 1999, for the

Workers' Party of Ireland The Workers' Party ( ga, Páirtí na nOibrithe) is a Marxist–Leninist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It arose as the original Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, but took ...

. At the 2004 local elections, he topped the poll in Waterford No. 3 electoral area. He was an unsuccessful Workers' Party candidate for the Waterford constituency at the

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and

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general elections. In February 2008, he resigned from the Workers' Party, when the party refused to drop its opposition to service charges, which Halligan supported. In 2009, as an Independent candidate, Halligan again topped the poll in his area. After the 2009 local elections, Halligan entered into a pact 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 � ...

and the Labour Party on

. As a result, he was duly elected

Mayor of Waterford The Kings of Viking Waterford (914–1170) The Vikings, who had created a longphort near Waterford in 853, finally settled and created a town in 914. These were led by Ottir Iarla. Ragnall ua Ímair then installed himself over them in 917, how ...

, serving from 2009 to 2010. He was elected as a TD for the

constituency at the 2011 general election, receiving 5,546

first preference votes In certain ranked-voting systems, a first-preference vote (or first preference, 1st preference, or primary vote) is the individual voter's first choice amongst (possibly) many. In certain ranked systems such as Instant-Runoff Voting or Single T ...

(10.3%) and was elected on the 11th count. Following his election to the Dáil in February 2011, Sean Reinhardt was co-opted to replace Halligan on Waterford City Council. In March 2011, Halligan joined the Dáil

technical group In politics, a technical group or mixed group is a heterogenous parliamentary group composed of elected officials from political parties of differing ideologies (or independent of any party) who are not numerous enough to form groups on their own. ...

allowing himself more speaking time in Dáil debates. On 15 December 2011, he helped launch a nationwide campaign against a proposed household charge being brought in as part of the 2012 budget. He joined the Independent Alliance upon its inception in 2015. On 27 February 2016, he was re-elected as a TD for Waterford at the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

, receiving 8,306

and was elected on the 8th count. After prolonged talks on government formation, the Independent Alliance supported the nomination of

Enda Kenny Enda Kenny (born 24 April 1951) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 2011 to 2017, Leader of Fine Gael from 2002 to 2017, Minister for Defence from May to July 2014 and 2016 to 2017, Leader of the Opposition from ...

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

on 6 May 2016, allowing Kenny to become the first

Leader of Fine Gael The Leader of Fine Gael is the most senior politician within the Fine Gael political party in Ireland. Since 2 June 2017, the office has been held by Leo Varadkar following the resignation of Enda Kenny. The deputy leader of Fine Gael is Simon ...

to be re-elected to the office of Taoiseach. On 19 May 2016, Halligan was appointed by the new government a Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills and at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation with responsibility for Training and Skills. On 20 June 2017, after

Leo Varadkar Leo Eric Varadkar ( ; born 18 January 1979) is an Irish politician who has served as Taoiseach since December 2022, and previously from 2017 to 2020. He served as Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment from June 2020 to De ...

succeeded Kenny as Taoiseach, Halligan was appointed by

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as Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills and at the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation with responsibility for Training, Skills, Innovation, Research and Development. In November 2017, the Workplace Relations Commission found that he had violated equality legislation by asking a candidate "Do you have children? How old are your children?" during a job interview; the WRC ordered the minister's department to pay €7,500 to the candidate. He retired from the Dáil at the 2020 general election on 8 May, continuing in office as a junior minister until the formation of a new government on 27 June 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halligan, John 1955 births Living people Independent TDs Local councillors in County Waterford Mayors of Waterford Members of the 31st Dáil Members of the 32nd Dáil Ministers of State of the 32nd Dáil Workers' Party of Ireland politicians Alumni of Waterford Institute of Technology