Junior Education Minister, Fine Gael TD Josepha Madigan has announced that she has resigned and will not be contesting the next general election, making her the 12th TD from the party to do so.
“Last year, in the summer of 2023, I informed the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar that I would not be running in the next general election,” she said in a statement, just days after Varadkar himself announced his resignation.
“We have had many conversations since, but I have not changed my mind. I want to thank him for allowing me the time and space to reconsider my decision.”
She said that the last 10 years as a public representative had been an “enormous honour”, and said she was “very proud” to have been Director of Elections for the 8th Amendment referendum in 2018, and the divorce reform referendum in 2019. She added that she would be supporting Simon Harris to be the next leader of Fine Gael and Taoiseach.
“I am today confirming my decision not to contest the next General Election,” she said.
“I am also resigning today from my ministerial position. I wish Simon the very best in forming a new Fine Gael ministerial team to lead the party into the next election.
“Politics is not an easy profession but that does not mean it is not a rewarding one. I hope that people with strong hearts, resilience and courage will continue to enter public life to help better our country and its people. Over the last ten years I did all I could to achieve that objective.
“Finally, I would like to thank my own team, my departmental officials and my family, whose support has been vital in my work as a TD and Minister.”
Statement ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/bFS79e6URd
— Josepha Madigan ⚖️✨ (@josephamadigan) March 22, 2024
On Wednesday this week, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar made the surprise announcement that he would be resigning as Fine Gael party leader and Taoiseach, and said that he had not yet decided if he would be contesting the next general election.
That announcement, in turn, came just days after Fine Gael TD Ciarán Cannon said he would not be standing for re-election. This followed similar announcements from TDs John Paul Phelan, Michael Creed, Charlie Flanagan, Brendan Griffin, Joe McHugh, Fergus O’Dowd, David Stanton, Richard Bruton and Paul Kehoe. The new total number of Fine Gael TDs confirmed not to be running again amounts to one third of the party’s total presence in the Dáil.
In addition to this, at least two other party TDs are understood to be considering not contesting the next general election. If they and the Taoiseach decide not to run, that would bring the total number of outgoing Fine Gael TDs to 14 out of the total 34.