McDaid’s admission raises questions about the role of deputies

DEPUTY Jim McDaid has done us all a favour, perhaps inadvertently. His announcement that he has returned to a full-time medical career and will not be standing for re-election next year seems to have taken everyone by surprise.

It’s clear that party colleagues, the media and his constituents had all failed to notice that he was no longer fulfilling the functions of an elected, highly-paid public representative.

This raises the question as to what exactly is the value of the much vaunted ‘constituency work’ so often cited as the self-imposed core function of our TDs.