Fine Gael TD Ciarán Cannon has announced he will retire from politics at the next general election and cited “a toxicity in politics” as a factor in his decision.
Mr Cannon becomes the 10th Fine Gael TD to announce he will quit politics at the next election, leaving party managers with a headache as they seek replacements for established vote-getters in several constituencies, with a general election in less than a year’s time.
Mr Cannon, who has served as a junior minister in two departments in a Dáil career that began in 2011, was previously a senator and the last leader of the Progressive Democrats after that party suffered a mauling at the 2007 general election.
He joined Fine Gael and was elected to the Dáil for the Galway East constituency in 2011, retaining the seat in the two general elections since.
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He was a Minister of State in the Department of Education and later at the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Announcing his decision this morning, Mr Cannon said: “After 20 years in any role, I think you begin to reach a point where you’ve given all you can give. I have a deep respect for the people who elected me again and again, and I’m either all in on their behalf, or I’m not.”
Mr Cannon also used his resignation statement to point to the increasingly hostile public attitude to politicians and said this was a factor in his decision to leave.
“It would be remiss of me not to comment on the difference between being a politician now and 20 years ago,” he said. “That’s also been a factor in my decision to leave. There’s a coarseness, a toxicity in politics now that was barely palpable 20 years ago.
“None of us asks to be put on a pedestal, or to be treated any differently. We just ask to be treated with the same civility and respect as anyone else doing their job,” he said.
“Yes, politicians are subject to public scrutiny, and rightly so, but what we are experiencing right now goes far beyond that and can be deeply damaging to our wellbeing. At times it feels like it’s open season on you and your family. That’s not acceptable, nor indeed sustainable, if we want to have good people choosing politics as a career.”
Paying tribute, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that Mr Cannon “is a gentleman who will be missed by all who know him or who work with him in the Dáil. I wish him the very best in his life after politics”.
“I particularly want to thank Ciarán for the role he played in helping Ireland to secure election to the UN Security Council. I have always admired the way, as a TD in a rural constituency, that he promoted climate action, environmental protection and biodiversity even when not always popular,” Mr Varadkar said.
Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe said there was a “dark undertone” in parts of public life and that he had himself experienced some of the “toxicity” referred to by Mr Cannon in his decision to leave politics.
Speaking on Tuesday he said that politics could also be very rewarding and he encouraged anyone interested in seeking to enter public life to do so.
Mr Donohoe also said he “absolutely intended” to run in the next general election.
Asked about the ten Fine Gael politicians who had announced that they were not seeking re-election, Mr Donohoe pointed to former jockey Nina Carberry who is hoping to be a candidate for the party in the upcoming European elections.
“The fact that Nina Carberry has expressed interest in being a candidate in the European Parliament elections continues to show that both Fine Gael and Irish politics is capable of attracting new candidates and really experienced people who want to attempt to enter public life,” he said.
He said he had spoken to Mr Cannon on Tuesday and said he very much regretted that “a superb TD and Minister” was leaving public life. He described Mr Cannon as a “great colleague and a friend”.
“The broader issue we have to consider is the changed discourse around politics and the changed tone and atmosphere around it and what that means for politicians for all parties for attracting those people into politics and keeping them in politics.”
Mr Cannon becomes the 10th Fine Gael TD to announce he will not be standing for re-election. TDs John Paul Phelan, Michael Creed, Charlie Flanagan, Brendan Griffin, Joe McHugh, Fergus O’Dowd, David Stanton, Richard Bruton and Paul Kehoe have all made similar announcements.
MEPs Frances Fitzgerald and Deirdre Clune have also said they will not seek re-election.
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