Gilmore to step down at next general election

Former tánaiste, foreign affairs minister, and Labour leader Eamon Gilmore has confirmed he will not run as a candidate at the next general election, bringing to an end a 26-year-long Dáil career.

The Dun Laoghaire TD revealed the decision last night, almost a year to the day since he resigned as party leader in the wake of a local and European elections defeat. Mr Gilmore entered the Dáil in 1989 as a Worker’s Party TD and over three decades was part of a new generation of left-leaning representatives in politics.

After leaving with Democratic Left, Mr Gilmore was part of the merger with the Labour Party, and a minister of state from 1994 to 1997 under the rainbow coalition.