Politics

Denis Naughten: Vastly experienced TD who left Fine Gael over Roscommon Hospital downgrade

TD was minister for two years but resigned over contacts with businessman who won broadband contract

Denis Naughten makes a statement on the plinth at Leinster House during the Bruton-Kenny leadership contest, in which he backed the losing candidate. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh / The Irish Times
Denis Naughten makes a statement on the plinth at Leinster House during the Bruton-Kenny leadership contest, in which he backed the losing candidate. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh / The Irish Times
Harry McGee's picture
Harry McGee
Tue Feb 14 2023 - 13:15

Denis Naughten will not be 50 until June but there are few more experienced politicians in Leinster House.

The Roscommon-Galway TD is a 26-year veteran of the Oireachtas, having being elected to the Seanad for Fine Gael at the age of 23 in a 1997 byelection which followed the death of his father, Liam, in a car crash.

Naughten was elected to the Dáil five months later in the general election. He has retained his seat ever since, despite three major boundary changes in the constituency and his parting of ways with Fine Gael.

The science graduate was one of a minority of TDs who was able to seamlessly move between being a parish pump politician and a national legislator.

READ MORE

He built up a large support base in South Roscommon, which remained intact as the constituency changed from Longford-Roscommon to Roscommon South-Leitrim to Roscommon-Galway.

Policy mind

Naughten distinguished himself as a policy person and he, along with Richard Bruton, produced many of Fine Gael’s policy papers during three terms in opposition that lasted 13 years. His interest in science informed much of his thinking.

[ Denis Naughten announces he will not contest next general election ]

His relationship with his then party leader Enda Kenny was complex. Kenny and Liam Naughten were very close friends, and Denis was a strong supporter of the Mayo politician during his early years as leader.

However, that all changed when Bruton challenged Kenny for the leadership in 2010. Naughten supported Bruton in the internal battle. When Kenny survived, he did not reappoint Naughten to the front bench, and the relationship between them cooled.

On the backbenches

When Fine Gael formed a coalition with Labour in 2011, Naughten was left on the backbenches. As that government implemented a series of stringent cutbacks – under the supervision of the Troika – an announcement was made that Roscommon County Hospital’s emergency department would be closed.

Naughten protested against the move, saying the leadership had pledged to retain the services. He voted against the measure in the Dáil, lost the whip and three months later, in October 2011, he resigned from Fine Gael.

Becoming an Independent did not impact on his electoral popularity in Roscommon, which had a long tradition of electing non-party TDs. His stance on the hospital was widely supported. By contrast, his former Fine Gael colleague, Frank Feighan, shipped a lot of abuse and antagonism for backing the plan.

Naughten returned to Fine Gael and the frontbenches with election of Leo Varadkar. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
Naughten returned to Fine Gael and the frontbenches with election of Leo Varadkar. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw

However, Naughten was never seen as fully independent. He was essentially seen as a proxy Fine Gael representative in the constituency and a substantial portion of his vote came from party supporters, despite his vow never to rejoin.

Naughten was one of a small number of Independent TDs who supported the minority Fine Gael government after the 2016 election yielded an uncertain result. This saw him appointed as minister for communications, climate action and environment as he and Kenny repaired their relationship.

His focus as a minister was getting high-speed fibre broadband to every corner of the State. The National Broadband Plan became a reality during his time as minister. However, he was criticised for having a number of dinners and contacts with US businessman David McCourt, who led the consortium that won the contract to develop the network.

In October 2018, Naughten met Taoiseach Leo Varadkar – who had replaced Kenny in 2017 – to discuss the controversy. It was clear that Varadkar had lost confidence in him and Naughten resigned. “The outcome is more about opinion polls than telecom poles,” he said at the time. The roll-out of the network is his largest political legacy.

Future plans

Naughten says he does not have anything specific in mind as to future plans as yet. He said he would like to work to create closer relationships between scientists and policymakers.

Roscommon-Galway is a relatively new three-seat constituency where he sits alongside Claire Kerrane of Sinn Féin and another Independent, Michael Fitzmaurice. Naughten’s departure will mean that a seat should be in play for either Fianna Fáil of Fine Gael, which will hope that at least some of the former minister’s support will return to the party.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil leading representatives there are senators Aisling Dolan and Eugene Murphy respectively. However, if there are radical changes to the boundaries and a Roscommon-East Mayo constituency is created, that will invariably change the dynamic.