Derek McDowell (born 11 September 1958) is an Irish former Labour Party politician. He was a

Teachta Dála A Teachta Dála ( ; ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish language, Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas, the parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The official Engli ...

(TD) from 1992 to 2002, and member of

Seanad Éireann Seanad Éireann ( ; ; "Senate of Ireland") is the senate of the Oireachtas (the Irish legislature), which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann (defined as the house of representatives). It is commonly called the Seanad or ...

from 2002 to 2007. McDowell was an unsuccessful candidate at the 1989 general election in the Dublin North-Central constituency, but at the 1992 general election he was returned to the

27th Dáil The 27th Dáil was elected at the 1992 general election on 25 November 1992 and met on 14 December 1992. The members of Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas (legislature) of Ireland, are known as TDs. It sat with the ...

, topping the poll with 23% of the

first-preference votes A first-preference is a voter's most-preferred candidate. In certain ranked systems such as first preference plurality, ranked-choice voting (RCV), and the single transferable vote, first preferences for a candidate are considered most important ...

. He was re-elected at the 1997 general election with a much reduced share of the vote. At the

1999 Irish local elections The 1999 Irish local elections were held in all the counties, cities and towns of Ireland on Friday, 11 June 1999, on the same day as the European elections. Ireland was divided into local government areas of administrative counties and cou ...

, he was elected to

Dublin City Council Dublin City Council () is the Local government in the Republic of Ireland, local authority of the city of Dublin in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. As a city council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. Until 2001, the authority was k ...

from the Clontarf area. At the 2002 general election, McDowell lost his seat to the

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

candidate

Finian McGrath Finian McGrath (born 9 April 1953) is an Irish former independent politician who served as Minister of State for Disability Issues from 2016 to 2020. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 2002 to 2020. Early and personal life Born in Tuam, Co ...

. After the loss of his seat in

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( ; , ) is the lower house and principal chamber of the Oireachtas, which also includes the president of Ireland and a senate called Seanad Éireann.Article 15.1.2° of the Constitution of Ireland reads: "The Oireachtas shall co ...

, McDowell was elected to the

22nd Seanad The 22nd Seanad was in office from 2002 to 2007. An election to Seanad Éireann, the senate of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament), followed the 2002 general election to the 29th Dáil. The senators served until the close of poll for the 23rd Se ...

by the

Industrial and Commercial Panel Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominat ...

, where he was Labour's Seanad spokesperson on Finance, Transport, Enterprise, Trade and Employment. At the 2007 general election, he stood again in the Dublin North–Central constituency, but did not regain his seat. He did not contest the subsequent elections to the

23rd Seanad The 23rd Seanad was in office from 2007 to 2011. An election to Seanad Éireann, the senate of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament) took place in July 2007, following the 2007 general election to the 30th Dáil on 24 May. There are 60 seats in th ...

. McDowell worked as Head of International Advocacy at

Concern Worldwide Concern Worldwide (often referred to as Concern) is Ireland's largest aid and humanitarian agency. Since its foundation in 1968 it has worked in 50 countries. According to its latest annual report, Concern helped 28.6 million of the world's poor ...

,. During the 2011 to 2016

Fine Gael Fine Gael ( ; ; ) is a centre-right, liberal-conservative, Christian democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil Éireann. The party had a member ...

– Labour Party coalition he served as deputy government press secretary and advisor to

Tánaiste The Tánaiste ( , ) is the second-ranking member of the government of Ireland and the holder of its second-most senior office. It is the equivalent of the deputy prime minister in other parliamentary systems. The Tánaiste is appointed by the P ...

Eamon Gilmore Eamon Gilmore (born 24 April 1955) is an Irish diplomat and former Labour Party politician. He has served as European Union Special Representative for Human Rights since February 2019. He has also been the European Union Special Envoy for th ...

and Tánaiste

Joan Burton Joan Burton (born 1 February 1949) is an Irish former Labour Party politician who served as Tánaiste and Leader of the Labour Party from 2014 to 2016, Minister for Social Protection from 2011 to 2016, Deputy leader of the Labour Party fro ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McDowell, Derek 1958 births Living people Members of Dublin City Council Labour Party (Ireland) TDs Members of the 27th Dáil Members of the 28th Dáil Members of the 22nd Seanad Labour Party (Ireland) senators Labour Party (Ireland) local councillors Industrial and Commercial Panel senators