Eric Byrne (born 21 April 1947) is an Irish former Labour Party 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 Dublin South-Central constituency from 1989 to 1992, 1994 to 1997 and 2011 to 2016. He was formerly a member of

Official Sinn Féin 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 ...

, the Workers' Party and Democratic Left.

Biography

Born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, he was educated at

Synge Street CBS Synge Street CBS (colloquially Synger) is a boys' non-fee-paying state school, under the auspices of the Edmund Rice Schools Trust, located in the Dublin 8 area of Dublin, Ireland. The school was founded in 1864 by Can ...

and the

Bolton Street College of Technology Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT, ga, Institiúid Teicneolaíochta Bhaile Átha Cliath) was a major third-level institution in Dublin, Ireland. On 1 January 2019 DIT was dissolved and its functions were transferred to the Technological Un ...

. A carpenter before entering politics, Byrne stood unsuccessfully for election to Dáil Éireann as a Workers' Party candidate for Dublin Rathmines West at the 1977 general election and Dublin South-Central at the

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

, February 1982, November 1982 and

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

general elections. He was elected in 1985 as a Workers' Party member of

Dublin City Council Dublin City Council ( ga, Comhairle Cathrach Bhaile Átha Cliath) is the authority responsible for local government in the city of Dublin in Ireland. As a city council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. Until 2001, the council was ...

for Crumlin–

Kimmage Kimmage ( or ''Camaigh uisce'', meaning "crooked water-meadow", possibly referring to the meandering course of the River Poddle), is a suburb on the south side of the city of Dublin in Ireland. Location Kimmage is to the south of Dublin city c ...

area, and was re-elected at subsequent local elections until 2011, where he was forced to resign his seat due to dual mandate. He was finally elected at the 1989 general election. He joined with Workers' Party members who formed Democratic Left in 1992. He unexpectedly lost his seat at the 1992 general election. Labour's Pat Upton was unexpectedly returned on the first count, with Byrne finally losing the last seat to

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 ...

Ben Briscoe Ben Briscoe (born 11 March 1934) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) for 37 years, representing constituencies in the south Dublin city area. Member of Dáil Éireann Briscoe was first elected to Dáil Éirea ...

by five votes after a marathon 10-day count. He was elected to the

27th Dáil 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, s ...

at a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

on 9 June 1994 following the resignation of long-serving Fianna Fáil TD John O'Connell (who had previously been a Labour TD for the same constituency). Byrne was a backbench supporter of the Rainbow government led by

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 � ...

John Bruton John Gerard Bruton (born 18 May 1947) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 1994 to 1997, Ambassador of the European Union to the United States from 2004 to 2009, Leader of Fine Gael from 1990 to 2001, Leader o ...

. Byrne lost his seat again at the 1997 general election. Although the Labour Party and the Democratic Left merged in 1999, he was not selected to contest the Dublin South-Central by-election which followed Pat Upton's death later that year. Upton's sister

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

was elected for the Labour Party. Byrne contested the 2002 general election on the Labour Party ticket as Mary Upton's running-mate, but was unsuccessful. Along with Mary Upton, he contested the Dublin South-Central constituency at the 2007 general election advocating a Labour Party/Fine Gael government but missed the final seat by 69 votes. Byrne was nominated by the Labour Party to contest the Seanad election in the Labour panel but was not elected. In 2009, he was re-elected to Dublin City Council. At the 2011 general election he was re-elected to the Dáil, after 14 years. In January 2015, he became involved in an altercation with

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...

TD,

Jonathan O'Brien Jonathan O'Brien (born 28 December 1971) is an Irish former Sinn Féin politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cork North-Central constituency from 2011 to 2020. Early life O'Brien moved to Morecambe, Lancashire in the early 1 ...

. During ministers questions, O'Brien had criticised

Tánaiste The Tánaiste ( , ) is the deputy head of the government of Ireland and thus holder of its second-most senior office. The Tánaiste is appointed by the President of Ireland on the advice of the Taoiseach. The current office holder is former Tao ...

Joan Burton Joan Burton (born 1 February 1949) is a former Irish Labour Party politician who served as Tánaiste and Leader of the Labour Party from 2014 to 2016, Minister for Social Protection from 2011 to 2016, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 2 ...

over homelessness in Ireland, citing the experiences of his brother who was a recovering heroin addict. Byrne asked of O'Brien "Why doesn't his good family give him a home?" which infuriated O'Brien. ''The Irish Times'' journalist

Miriam Lord Miriam Lord (born 1962) is an Irish journalist and political sketch writer employed by ''The Irish Times'' newspaper. Her work for the paper includes daily coverage of major political matters through her '' Dáil Sketch'', and ''Miriam Lord's We ...

, criticized Byrne, remarking that "You sense the relief rising in the chamber. They don't like it when the real world intrudes. These sort of things don't really happen to TDs." He lost his seat at the 2016 general election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Byrne, Eric 1947 births Living people Alumni of Dublin Institute of Technology Democratic Left (Ireland) TDs Labour Party (Ireland) TDs Members of Dublin City Council Members of the 26th Dáil Members of the 27th Dáil Members of the 31st Dáil Workers' Party (Ireland) TDs People educated at Synge Street CBS