Independent TD Denis Naughten will not contest next General Election

Independent TD Denis Naughten

Former Communications Minister and Independent TD for Roscommon Denis Naughten has announced that he will not contest the next General Election.

In a statement released on Monday night, the former Fine Gael stalwart said he has decided to step back and explore new opportunities, citing "personal and professional reasons".

Mr Naughten was first elected in 1997 to Dáil Éireann having served in Seanad Éireann before that.

“I want to thank the people of counties Longford, Leitrim, Galway and Roscommon most sincerely for their support over the last quarter of a century. It has truly been an honour to represent the people from those counties in Dáil Éireann over that time.

"I want to particularly thank the many people who canvassed for me over the years, some of whom had previously canvassed for my late father Liam,” he said.

Mr Naughten lost the Fine Gael party whip in 2011 after failing to support the party in a vote on the downgrading of Roscommon Hospital's emergency department.

He took a seat at Cabinet as part of the Fine Gael-led minority Government as an independent minister, but resigned amid controversy over meetings he had with the lead bidder for the National Broadband Plan.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said Mr Naughten left himself open to allegations of a conflict of interest in how he handled the awarding of the contract the broadband plan, and that his actions left him with no choice but to seek his resignation.

Mr Naughten hit back saying his forced resignation was “more to do with optics than fibreoptics”.

In his statement, Mr Naughten said since his initial election, he has "fought tirelessly for the improvement and delivery of our health services at both local and national level.” 

“While protecting our local services was a condition of my support for the Government, the establishment of an all-party Committee on Health - which produced the first Sláintecare report, and which was the genesis of our current pathway - I believe will ultimately prove to be a key turning point in the delivery of a proper and responsive healthcare system in Ireland,” he said.