Thomas Broughan (born 1 August 1947) is an Irish former

Independent politician An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or Bureaucracy, bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicia ...

who served as 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 2020. He sat as a TD for the Labour Party until late 2011, representing the Dublin North-East constituency from 1992 until constituency changes for the 2016 general election.

Early life

Broughan was born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

in 1947. He was educated at Moyle Park College,

Clondalkin Clondalkin () is a suburban village in County Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, approximately west of Dublin city centre. It is within the administrative jurisdiction of South Dublin County Council, South Dublin. Clondalkin is also the na ...

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

and

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. He worked as a teacher at St. Aidan's CBS,

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It ...

, before entering politics in 1991, when 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 ...

Labour Party

The following year, Broughan was first elected to

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 ...

at the 1992 general election 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 ...

as a Labour Party TD for Dublin North-East. He retained his seat at the

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

general elections. Broughan previously served as Labour Party Spokesperson for Enterprise, Trade and Employment; Communications, Energy and Natural Resources; and Transport. Broughan was regarded as being on the

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

of the Labour Party. He first lost the party whip in 1994, during the

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil ( ; ; meaning "Soldiers of Destiny" or "Warriors of Fál"), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party (), is a centre to centre-right political party in Ireland. Founded as a republican party in 1926 by Éamon de ...

-Labour Party coalition when he disagreed with the government decision to sell Team Aer Lingus, but he returned when that coalition collapsed at the end of 1994. During

Pat Rabbitte Pat Rabbitte (born 18 May 1949) is an Irish former Labour Party politician who served as Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources from 2011 to 2014, Leader of the Labour Party from 2002 to 2007 and a Minister of State from 19 ...

's leadership of the Labour party from 2002 to 2007, Broughan was a leading critic of Rabbitte's decision to form an electoral alliance with

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 ...

, instead advocating an independent strategy for the party, in addition to closer co-operation with the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

and

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

. He had the Labour parliamentary party whip withdrawn on 29 June 2010, for failing to attend a vote on the Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2010 in the Dáil. He along with fellow TD Joanna Tuffy both opposed the Labour Party going into coalition with Fine Gael in the aftermath of the 2011 general election. During the

31st Dáil The 31st Dáil was elected at the 2011 general election on 25 February 2011 and first met at midday on 9 March 2011 in Leinster House. The members of Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas (legislature) of Ireland, are k ...

, he became increasingly critical of a number of government policies. In November 2011, he criticised Transport Minister

Leo Varadkar Leo Eric Varadkar ( ; born 18 January 1979) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 2017 to 2020 and from 2022 to 2024, as Tánaiste from 2020 to 2022, and as leader of Fine Gael from 2017 to 2024. A Teachta Dála, ...

's decision to defer the

Dublin Metro MetroLink is a proposed metro line for the city of Dublin. It replaces an earlier proposal called Metro North which was first recommended in the then Irish Government's 2005 Transport 21 transport plan. The line is proposed to run from Estua ...

, claiming it would have been a "huge boost" to economic growth and employment in the Dublin/Mid-Leinster region. He lost the parliamentary Labour Party

whip A whip is a blunt weapon or implement used in a striking motion to create sound or pain. Whips can be used for flagellation against humans or animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain, or be used as an audible cue thro ...

after voting to reject a government amendment to extend the bank guarantee for another year on 1 December 2011. This was his third time to lose the Labour whip, having previously done so in 1994 and 2010. He stated he could not support adding more debt and called on Labour party TDs to join him on the opposition benches to oppose elements of the Government's economic policy.

Social Democratic Union

In April 2014, it was reported that Broughan had left the Labour Party, was forming a "Social Democratic Union" for his constituency supporters, and hoped like-minded Independent TDs would join. The group is unconnected to the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...

, formed by Broughan's former Labour Party colleague

Róisín Shortall Róisín Shortall (born 25 April 1954) is an Irish former Social Democrats politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin North-West constituency from 1992 to 2024. She was previously founding joint leader of the Social Democrats ...

along with two other Independent TDs. Broughan has ruled himself out of joining the new party stating he planned to remain an Independent deputy. As of July 2015, the Social Democratic Union remains unregistered.

2016 general election

At the 2016 general election, he stood as an

Independents 4 Change Independents 4 Change is an Irish political alliance, with registration as a political party, comprising several independent politicians. It had two MEPs in the Ninth European Parliament: Clare Daly and Mick Wallace. History The political ...

candidate in the

Dublin Bay North Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

constituency. He was re-elected to the Dáil. He voted for

Richard Boyd Barrett Richard Boyd Barrett (born 6 February 1967) is an Irish People Before Profit–Solidarity politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dún Laoghaire constituency since the 2011 general election. Boyd Barrett was previously a member of ...

for

Taoiseach The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

when the

32nd Dáil The 32nd Dáil was elected at the 2016 Irish general election, 2016 general election on 26 February and first met at 10.30 a.m. on 10 March 2016. The members of Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas (legislature) of ...

first met. Broughan left the party on 26 July 2016. On 22 January 2020, he announced that he would not be contesting the 2020 general election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Broughan, Tommy 1947 births Living people Alumni of University College Dublin Alumni of the University of London Independent TDs Irish schoolteachers Labour Party (Ireland) TDs Members of Dublin City Council Members of the 27th Dáil Members of the 28th Dáil Members of the 29th Dáil Members of the 30th Dáil Members of the 31st Dáil Members of the 32nd Dáil Politicians from County Dublin Independents 4 Change TDs