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LONG-SERVING FIANNA FÁIL TD Éamon Ó Cuiv has announced he will not contest the next General Election.
The Galway West deputy, who is the grandson of party founder Éamon de Valera, confirmed this evening he will retire from electoral politics after this Dáil comes to an end.
In a statement the 74-year-old said:
“After deep consideration, I have decided not to seek a nomination to stand in the next general election. In the meantime I will continue to work as usual. I would like to thank everybody who supports me in my work.”
Ó Cuiv was first elected to the Dáil in 1992 and previously served as deputy leader of Fianna Fáil from 2011 to 2012.
He held a number of ministerial roles during his lengthy career including as Minister for Social Protection and as Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin paid tribute to Ó Cuív calling him one of the most “conscientious and dedicated politicians” he had worked alongside.
“He has been a tremendous public representative for the people of Galway West and Cornamona,” the Fianna Fáil leader said.
“I worked with Eamon both in the Dail and in cabinet, and subsequently in 2011 around the regeneration and revitalisation of the party. He is one of the most conscientious and dedicated politicians I’ve ever worked with.
“He had a long term commitment to peace and reconciliation on the island of Ireland and played an important role in the lead up to the Good Friday Agreement.
“In his capacity as Minister for the Gaeltacht and Rural Affairs, he was pioneering and innovative in terms of The Language Act and a new era of support for the Irish Language. He developed the CLÁR programme, which was the first of its kind in terms of support for rural Ireland.”
Martin added: “Éamon will be a huge loss to public life and I would like to pay tribute to his wife Áine and his children who gave him tremendous support throughout his career.”
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Used to listen to Newstalk but Chris Donaghue does my head in with his politically correct büllshit…….
I stopped due to him too. That, and Moncrieff is trying too hard these days.
If there is a PC bandwagon doing the rounds you can be sure that Sean Moncrieff will be on it. A decent enough interviewer though. I’ll give him that. That said it, most of the people he interviews are book-pluggers.
Chris Donoghue personifies the modern politically correct ‘New Man’.
Incapable of uttering an honest opinion on anything.
He doesn;t have an opinion. He suckles on Ivan’s tittie.
Sean Montcrieffe has a problem with the letter ‘E’
University becomes UnivUrsity
Have a listen.
I used to listen to newstalk breakfast also but for me Ivan did my head in.
Rte lies and propaganda https://youtu.be/aG7JmlQXBt0
It’s Ivan does my head in. Too much blue shirt propaganda.
Even without Kenny? Funny the way they tried to convince us they couldn’t do without him when he was on 90K a year.
That breakfast republic is torture, all they play is cheesy shite dance crap you hear in every girls clothes shop.
I blame Jennuendo Maguire
Now would be a good time to cut RTE’s budget again then. Let them compete in the real world.
These figures mean nothing as is. The true success story here is that Newstalk are, on a shoestring budget, a tiny tiny fractions of the resources and finances, are solidly competing with RTE.
For music stations we need to go the way of the Americans and play music.
Nobody wants to hear a DJ.
That was ok 20 years ago before the internet. Peoples heads are too full of media commentary.
They want peace.
That’s why people are tuning in to Phantom.
Less is more.
I’m surprised at how small Lyrics listenership is, I find myself listening to it more and more, except for John Kelly who can play some woeful arty farty shite.
Never a more accurate head line on the Journal, RTE is Pro Fine Gael.
€290 million in tv licence fees should give them just a slight advantage over the competition.
Roll on truthful alternative media.
Roll on the infowar.
I can safely say I have never listened to any RTE Radio 1 show apart from the odd news or sports bulletin. Can’t stand any of the presenters. Bunch of overpaid talentless idiots
How do u know if you haven’t listened to any of them? I don’t listen either but I can’t say anymore than that.
Beano given that you have such strong optimists on RTE which you never listen to according to yourself I just wondering if you have any strong opinions on books you haven’t read or movies you haven’t seen that you want to share with us?
I’ve watched Duffy, Finucane, O’Callaghan, D’Arcy on telly and thought they were all $hite. I think it’s a fairly accurate assumption to think that they will also be $hite on the radio. Are you saying they’re not?
Good judge of character Beano.
Spot on!!!
Overpaid Dry Handpuppet Lackeys.
RTE should be scrapped
Sink or swim. Cut them loose. RTE takes vast amounts of public money to allegedly provide a public service AND they take money for colossal amounts of advertising. The RTE player is basically unusable now with all the advertising on it. Where is all that money going to? Into the pockets of the friends and relations, and of course their ”stars”.. The same talentless ”stars” that wouldn’t be poached to make the tea at a local radio station in Moldova, never mind the BBC.
Ryan Tubridy is FF, Miriam O’ Callaghan is FF. The media giant’s right hand woman Lucy Gaffney is going for top RTE job.
Any people like Miriam who has a brother running in the elections for ff should step aside during the elections and that goes for any one else in RTE. It is the state broadcaster and should be neutral.
RTE lost two of their best when they SHAFTED John Clarke & then let Alf Mc go too
Can’t wait to pay my broadcast licence in 2016
There was a European Court ruling a few years ago that state funded media outlets were not to engage in ratings wars.
Doesn’t seem to have had any effect on the chiefs at Montrose though.
The real test?
Take away the license fee. let these people stand on their own two feet on a level playing field.
Doubt if RTE would even make the top four.
Agreed Oran,
The are lots of instances where State funding or tax exempt status needs to be reviewed and removed. The two biggies being RTE and the RC Church.
When Bowie died, I heard ‘music’ on the radio for the first time in years. I guarantee Eurovision 2016 selection is one big free promo for a Nicky Byrne album down the line. RTE are an embarrassment.
I grab the morning news headlines on RTE Radio 1 and then switch over to BBC Radio 4 or LBC London.
I usually switch away when they start repeating the mantra “RTE Supporting the Arts” over and over and over again ad infinitum.
I heard that mantra repeated 5 times in 5 minutes a few months back.
(Reminds me of the “Allah Akbar” you hear endlessly on Middle East news reports).
I hit the button.
Joe Duffy is amazing, I love listening to Irish people moaning !
Now, if only we had a left wing radio station we could infer an election result.
Matt Cooper brings me home everyday. He’s my fave.
Cooper is – like all Newstalk presenters – a DOBshite, all their integrity as journalists is completely compromised as long as they live off the purse strings of their media oligarch despot of a boss.
Maybe but they extremely one sided
Bbc 4 extra great station
RTE Supporting the Arts?
Like dropping Lyric FM’s hour-long Jazz Alley presented by Donald Helme..
One hour of jazz a week which used to be 90 minutes.
Another example of mediocrity in management.
Good results or Journal reprinting hype ?
‘Everybody needs a bosom for a pillow’
Why can’t I stop singing that line.
Damn you, now it is in my head.
Pardon me but I thought that the first paragraph said that more than half listen to a local radio station and 46% listen to a national station. By this reckoning the local radio secttor is beating the pants off the national celebrity sector! What follows then is a blow by blow account of ratings for our failing national ego celebs! Strange reporting of the facts but nothing new for the Irish media?
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