Fine Gael Cork East TD David Stanton will not stand in next General Election

Cork East TD David Stanton will not stand in the next General Election. Photo: Hany Marzouk

Long-serving Cork East TD David Stanton has become the fifth Fine Gael TD to announce he will not stand in the next general election.

The departure is yet another blow for Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, after the recent announcements of Brendan Griffin, John Paul Phelan, Joe McHugh, and Michael Creed.

In January, the Irish Examiner reported that up to nine Fine Gael TDs would not run in the next election. 

Mr Stanton, a former junior minister, confirmed that he will not be looking to retain his seat after this term at a Fine Gael Cork East AGM this week.

In a statement, he said: "It has been the utmost privilege of mine to have represented the constituents of Cork East since my first General Election in 1997 and at the five subsequent elections.

“A highlight of my career was being appointed Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality with special responsibility for Equality, Immigration and Integration in 2016.

Mr Stanton also thanked his family who he said had provided him with "great fortitude throughout my time as a public representative for which I am eternally grateful".

He added: “I will be working with the Fine Gael party to ensure we hold and build on our representation at the next local elections and indeed, hold the Fine Gael seat in the Cork East constituency at the next General Election.” 

Mr Varadkar described Mr Stanton as "a true gentleman" and one of the hardest-working TDs in Fine Gael and in the Oireachtas.

"There’s never any fuss, just hard work done well and consistently," Mr Varadkar said in wishing him well.

When asked about the recent departure announcements, Mr Varadkar told the Irish Examiner that Fine Gael is "different" from other parties as a lot of members have now served for a number of terms.

"Fine Gael, in part, because we have been electorally successful, particularly in the 2011 election — we have a very high number of TDs who have 25 years of service or more.

“They’ve been in government, they’ve been in opposition, they have made huge contributions to their party, their community and their constituency, and some of them either want to retire or move onto other things and that’s entirely understandable,” Varadkar said in an interview last week."