Gillian Toole is an Irish politician who has been 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) for the Meath East constituency since the

2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...

. Toole was previously a

Meath County Council Meath County Council () is the local authority of County Meath, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for housing and community, roads and transportation, urban planning and de ...

lor from 2014 to 2024.

Local politics

Toole was elected to

as a member of

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 ...

at the

2014 Irish local elections The 2014 Irish local elections were held in all local government areas of Ireland on Friday, 23 May 2014, on the same day as the European Parliament election and two by-elections ( Dublin West and Longford–Westmeath). The poll in the Ballyb ...

for the

Ratoath Ratoath () is a commuter town in County Meath, Ireland. A branch of the Broad Meadow Water (Broadmeadow River) () flows through the town. The R125 and R155 roads meet in the village. At the 2022 census, there were 10,007 people living in Ra ...

electoral area. Toole resigned from Fine Gael in March 2019, citing frustration with the party's policies, particularly in relation to public transport, healthcare, and community safety. Toole, who had served as a Fine Gael councillor for five years, felt that the party no longer represented the needs of the people of Meath. Her decision came as a shock to local Fine Gael members, as she had been selected to run for the party in the 2019 local elections. In her resignation statement, Toole expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of improvement in areas she had campaigned for and said her experience working part-time in healthcare showed a need for greater attention to the sector. Following her resignation, Toole continued her political career as an independent. However, the Fine Gael party was later drawn into controversy regarding alleged derogatory remarks made about Toole at a party meeting in

Kells, County Meath Kells (; ) is a town in County Meath, Ireland. The town lies off the M3 motorway, from Navan and from Dublin. Along with other towns in County Meath, it is within the commuter belt for Dublin, and had a population of 6,608 as of the 2022 ce ...

. It was reported that former TD John V. Farrelly referred to Toole using offensive terms, including a racial slur and an expletive. The alleged comments were said to have been made in front of other party members at the meeting, which was attended by around 20 people. A complaint was filed with Fine Gael headquarters, and the party confirmed that it was investigating the matter. Farrelly issued an apology "for any offence caused", both during the meeting and afterwards, and announced his decision to step aside from his role as constituency chair pending the outcome of the investigation. A spokesperson for Fine Gael stated that such language had no place in public life and was completely unacceptable. Toole, who had left the party ahead of the local elections, did not comment publicly on the incident at the time. Toole was re-elected to Meath County Council as an independent member at the

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

and

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

local elections.

National politics

Toole's bid for the Dáil in 2024 was endorsed and supported by Senator Sharon Keogan. Toole received 4,459 first preferences votes (8.9%) at the 2024 general election in Meath East, and was elected on the 13th count. She was part of the Regional Independents Group led by

Michael Lowry Michael Lowry may refer to: * Michael Lowry (politician) Michael Lowry (born 13 March 1953) is an Irish independent politician who has served as a Teachta Dála (TD) since 1987, currently for the Tipperary North constituency. He previously se ...

that negotiated the programme for government and one of four members of that group who subsequently sought opposition speaking time in the Dáil despite being affiliated with the government. The

Ceann Comhairle The (; "Head of heCouncil"; plural usually ) is the chairperson (or speaker) of , the lower house of the (parliament) of Ireland. The person who holds the position is elected by members of the from among their number in the first session ...

, Verona Murphy, however, ruled that government-affiliated TDs could not form a

Technical group In parliamentary politics, a technical group or mixed group is a heterogeneous group of elected officials who are of differing ideologies, comprising multiple small political parties, independent politicians, or a combination of both. They can be ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toole, Gillian Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Members of the 34th Dáil Independent TDs Fine Gael local councillors Independent local councillors in the Republic of Ireland Members of Meath County Council 21st-century women Teachtaí Dála