De Rossa set to retire after 13 years as an MEP

VETERAN Labour MEP Proinsias De Rossa is to quit his post next month after nearly 13 years in Brussels.

Mr De Rossa enjoyed a colourful political career after becoming a Sinn Féin the Workers Party TD in 1982, before internal disputes saw him resign as leader and form Democratic Left (DL) in the 1990s.

He became social welfare minister in the rainbow government of 1994-97, and president of the Labour Party in 1998 after it merged with DL. A year later he became MEP for Dublin.