Fianna Fáil TD to step down after 37 years in politics

VETERAN Fianna Fáil TD Noel Davern last night announced he was standing down to make way for “new blood” in the Dáil.

After nearly four decades in frontline politics, the Tipperary South deputy said he would not contest the next general election, expected in 2007.

“It’s 37 years since I went into the Dáil first, and it was my 60th birthday there Christmas Eve, and I said ‘no, it is time to get out and leave a younger person in’.