The 24/7 grind of a politician is not for the faint-hearted as the likes of Simon Coveney and Catherine Martin will tell you. Former TDs who stood down or lost their Dáil seat at the last general election say why they haven't looked back.
Confucius, China's most famous philosopher, was asked by a student if there was one word that could represent a guiding principle in life. His answer was "shu" - meaning a reciprocal arrangement exists between yourself and others, so consider their needs when you do something. It's a good rule of thumb for any individual, but governments should particularly bear it in mind, because a mutual connection exists between a government and its electorate that any administration ignores at its peril.
Dáil Éireann was far from quiet in 2025, even before you account for the sky-rocketing decibel levels that kicked the year off as a speaking row broke out and delayed the small matter of getting some actual work done. As the months unfolded, we had a presidential race that took a while to get going before provoking some of the biggest headlines of the year, the fallout of which is still being reckoned with.
Soon after Ireland passed its Gender Recognition Act in 2015, Kevin Humphreys, a Labour politician, visited a residential home for senior citizens where an older woman thanked him for the new law. It was Humphreys who, as the minister of state for social protection 10 years ago, guided through the legislation that has meant transgender people in Ireland can apply to have their lived gender legally recognised by the state through a simple self-certification process.
It's been a time of celebration for some, of speaking out against terrible crimes for others, of 1990s nostalgia, major upheaval, and more. Our writers Kim Bielenberg, Kirsty Blake Knox, John Meagher and Tanya Sweeney take you through it all. It was the year of new faces at the Áras and in the Vatican;
The money was spent on South American male escorts and on drugs including crystal meth, GHB and cocaine A video on McKiernan's phone showed him smoking a crack pipe while lying in bed with an individual The Fine Gael councillor made history in 2011 when he was elected the youngest ever chairman of Cavan County Council A former cathaoirleach of Cavan County Council has been jailed for two years and nine months, after stealing more than €172,000 from a mental health housing charity.
Irish citizens who were part of a flotilla that tried to bring aid to Gaza when they were detained by Israeli authorities have urged politicians to ensure they "hold Israel accountable"
A government TD has revealed how his family has been plunged into the "most immense shock and grief" following the deaths of his uncle and first cousin within days of one another.
We look at those who have tried, and failed, to fix the mess Every month when he was housing minister, Eoghan Murphy had to face the media to talk about the spiralling numbers of homeless people in Ireland. As the beleaguered minister made his way down the grand staircase at Government buildings to announce the inevitably grim news, a cabinet colleague muttered the words of the playwright Samuel Beckett in his ear:
Left-wing independent Catherine Connolly, 68, secured 63% of votes in a landslide election victory on Saturday, comfortably defeating her center-right rival, former Cabinet minister Heather Humphreys. The politician won after Ireland's left-leaning opposition parties, including Sinn Féin, united to back her, and she is expected to be a voice unafraid to challenge Ireland's center-right government.
Ireland's new president, Catherine Connolly, is a proud leftist who has served for almost a decade as an independent socialist member of the Irish parliament (Dáil Éireann), a blunt critic of the failures of neoliberalism and corporate globalization, and a visionary advocate for the sort of dramatic interventions that are needed to address the economic inequality that has made life increasingly unaffordable for working-class families.
Fianna Fáil TD James O'Connor was given a verbal thick ear on RTÉ by his party leader for claiming Mr Martin behaved like France's Le Roi Soleil (Sun King). Mr Martin was selflessly not setting his sights on a similar reign of 72 years - the longest of any monarch in history. Therefore, the TD had to be bang out of order - his party leader he did not rule from a gilded throne, nor was he ever a top-down leader.
Former Fine Gael minister said 'smear the bejaysus' out of Catherine Connolly, but never mentioned own role in Áras campaign Pundit has been working with Micheál Martin's party on media training for politicians since last year's elections
Former candidate attempts to inject urgency into the Fine Gaeler's campaign before it heads west Two shops flanking the entrance at Blanchardstown Shopping Centre depict different sides of Ireland. Brown Thomas is on one side of the doorway; budget supermarket Aldi is on the other. It's unclear where former Dragons' Den star Seán Gallagher was hiding, but he must have been in one of these two shops. For as soon as Heather Humphreys came through the shopping-centre doors, he suddenly appeared.
I knew Heather a very long time as a TD but also across her various ministerial portfolios, especially during her time in Enterprise, where I witnessed first-hand how she represented Ireland at home and abroad with great distinction," Mr Gallagher added.
An absence of cost-of-living supports, disappointment at the hike to vapes and no help for the average worker were among the issues raised by Irish Independent readers as you reacted to Budget 2026.
Fragmented group will struggle to find singular voice as parties disagree over candidate's comments on Hamas When she launched her campaign in front of a jubilant crowd on Monday night, Catherine Connolly stood on stage holding hands with a group of six other leaders of the left. It was hailed as not just a passing moment of unity, but a sign that the fragmented group of left-wing parties in the Dáil could work cohesively and comfortably together
