Patrick John McCartan (born 5 May 1953) is an Irish lawyer who was a Circuit Court judge and a former politician. A native of

Wexford Wexford () is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 ...

, he first practiced as a solicitor working in criminal defence. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Workers' Party

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 Dublin North-East constituency at the 1987 general election. He was re-elected at the 1989 general election. In 1992 he joined with

Proinsias De Rossa Proinsias De Rossa (born 15 May 1940) is a former Irish Labour Party politician who served as Minister for Social Welfare from 1994 to 1997, Leader of Democratic Left from 1992 to 1999 and Leader of the Workers' Party from 1988 to 1992. He s ...

and five other Workers' Party deputies in resigning from the Workers' Party and in the creation of a new party, New Agenda which subsequently became Democratic Left. He stood as a Democratic Left candidate at the 1992 general election but lost his seat. After the collapse of the 1992–1994

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 Christia ...

– Labour Party coalition government Democratic Left joined in a new 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 � ...

and the Labour Party. This government subsequently appointed McCartan to the bench as a Circuit Court judge. He retired as a judge in August 2016.

References

1953 births Living people Local councillors in Dublin (city) Democratic Left (Ireland) TDs Circuit Court (Ireland) judges Members of the 25th Dáil Members of the 26th Dáil People from County Wexford Workers' Party of Ireland TDs Irish solicitors {{TeachtaDála-stub