Fine Gael TD Twomey to step down

Fine Gael TD and former health spokesperson Dr Liam Twomey is to step down at the next general election due to private “family reasons”.

The Cork-born GP and Wexford representative, who was first elected in 2002 as an Independent candidate before joining the then opposition party in 2004, said the decision was made “with a heavy heart” after a decade of public service.

He was a high-profile media performer in the last years of the Celtic Tiger, regularly criticising then health minister Mary Harney over privatisation policies including the now scrapped co-location plan, surging waiting lists, and the emerging scandal of nursing home abuse.

However, despite his profile, he narrowly lost his Dáil seat in the 2007 general election after, it was claimed, placing too much emphasis on national issues instead of local problems — at which point the newly elected Dr James Reilly became health spokesperson and Dr Twomey became a senator.

In 2011 he returned to the Dáil after regaining the position he lost, and was appointed Oireachtas finance committee chair at the start of this year. His decision to step down had been difficult, he said, while it has been a “huge honour to represent” his community, he said “a political career is a huge commitment” and that he wanted to thank his wife Liz and children “for all their support”.

Fine Gael chief whip and fellow constituency TD, Paul Kehoe, said he was “saddened” to hear the news and that Dr Twomey has “undertaken stellar work” for his constituency.