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Colm Keaveney

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Colm Keaveney
Teachta Dála
In office
February 2011 – February 2016
ConstituencyGalway East
Personal details
Born (1971-01-11) 11 January 1971 (age 53)
County Galway, Ireland
Political partyFianna Fáil (since 2013)
Other political
affiliations		Labour Party

Colm Keaveney (born 11 January 1971) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician.[1] He was elected as a Labour Party Teachta Dála (TD) for the Galway East constituency at the 2011 general election,[2] He sat as an Independent TD after losing the Labour whip in December 2012.[3] He resigned from the party in June 2013, and joined Fianna Fáil in December 2013. He is a former chairperson of the Labour Party. He lost his seat at the 2016 general election and was elected to Galway County Council in 2019.

Origins

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He is originally from the village of Garrafrauns, in north County Galway.[4] He was educated at St.Patrick's P.S. and St Jarlath's College in Tuam.[5]

Political career

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Keaveney was an unsuccessful candidate in Galway East at the 1997 general election. He was first elected to Tuam Town Council in the 1999 local elections.[2] In 2004 he was elected to Galway County Council, gaining just under 2,000 votes in the Tuam electoral area.

He is a former SIPTU trade union official and former president of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI).[6]

At the 2011 general election, he was elected as the first ever Labour Party TD for the Galway East constituency,[7] taking the last seat on the ninth count with a total poll of 10,126 votes.

At the 2012 Labour Party Conference in Galway, he was elected Chairman of the Labour Party. Following the publication of the 2012 Constituency Commission report, he was listed by The Irish Times as one of 13 TDs most likely to lose their seats in the next election. New boundaries saw Galway East lose a seat and the transfer of 20,500 voters out of the constituency, centred on his home town of Tuam.[8]

On 13 December 2012, he voted against the government on the cut to the respite care grant, which formed part of the 2013 budget; this led to his loss of the Parliamentary Labour Party whip. In a tweet just before the vote in the Dáil, he said "Acta non-verba", Latin for "deeds not words".[3][9][10] He remained as Chairman of the Labour Party, as he was elected by the party members. Keaveney resigned from the party on 26 June 2013.[11] Keaveney vocally opposed the government's Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013, both because of the absence of a time limit for termination and because he feared that the "suicide" clause would "normalise" suicide at a time when it was already becoming a serious problem in Ireland.[12] He had previously expressed pro-choice views, telling a Tuam Town Council debate in 2000 that abortion was "the last resort for women and every aspect of a woman’s decision should be looked at and taken into consideration" and that anti-abortion literature distributed by colleague Martin Ward was "sickening and offensive".[13]

In December 2013, he joined Fianna Fáil.[14] Keaveney said that Fianna Fáil "... has learned from its mistakes in the past" and he would be a Fianna Fáil candidate at the next general election for Galway East. In response to his application, Labour TD Pat Rabbitte, who had clashed with Keaveney repeatedly, derisively referred to it as "a match made in heaven".[15]

Keaveney's defection was met with opposition from local members of Fianna Fáil in Galway East, particularly from supporters of local TD Michael Kitt and former MEP Mark Killilea. Fianna Fáil leader Michéal Martin was forced to deny rumours that Keaveney would be selected as the sole candidate for the party in the next general election.[16][17]

He was an unsuccessful Fianna Fáil candidate in the Galway East constituency at the 2016 general election and was elected to the Tuam local electoral area at the 2019 Galway County Council election.[2][18]

Keaveney did not contest the 2024 Galway County Council election.

Drug driving

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On 11 June 2024 Keaveney was charged with driving under the influence of cocaine under an alleged incident that occurred on 12 June 2023.[19]

References

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  1. ^ "Colm Keaveney". Oireachtas Members Database. Archived from the original on 8 July 2018. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  2. ^ a b c "Colm Keaveney". ElectionsIreland.org. Archived from the original on 6 March 2011. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  3. ^ a b "Labour chairman Keaveney votes against Government". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 13 December 2012. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
  4. ^ Tuam Herald, Vol. 174, No. 41, p.1. Issue date 17 February 2011. ISSN 2009-3136
  5. ^ "Colm Keaveney". Fianna Fáil. Archived from the original on 4 November 2018. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  6. ^ "Restoration of social welfare rights sought". The Irish Times. 23 March 1996. p. 9.
  7. ^ The Tuam Herald, Vol. 174, No. 43, p.1. Issue date 3 March 2011. ISSN 2009-3136
  8. ^ "The TDs Facing A Battle". The Irish Times. 25 March 2009. Archived from the original on 23 June 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  9. ^ "Blow for Gilmore as Labour chairman Colm Keaveney quits parliamentary party over welfare cuts". Irish Independent. 13 December 2012. Archived from the original on 16 December 2012. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
  10. ^ "Labour TD Colm Keaveney votes against Social Welfare Bill". RTÉ News. 13 December 2012. Archived from the original on 14 December 2012. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
  11. ^ "Colm Keaveney resigns from Labour Party". RTÉ News. 26 June 2013. Archived from the original on 29 June 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  12. ^ Colm Keaveney, I have always considered myself pro-choice but I can't support the proposed abortion bill Archived 10 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine, The Journal, 25 May 2013
  13. ^ Connacht Tribune, Vol. 91, No. 10, p. 2. Issue date 2 March 2000. ISSN 0791-1807
  14. ^ "Former Labour Party chairman Colm Keaveney joins Fianna Fáil". RTÉ News. 3 December 2013. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
  15. ^ "Keaveney joins Fianna Fáil and will run in Galway East". The Irish Times. 3 December 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
  16. ^ "Grassroots Fianna Fáil Members seething over Keaveney move". The Connacht Tribune. 5 December 2013. Archived from the original on 5 December 2013. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  17. ^ "'No deal with Labour convert', Martin will tell angry grassroots". The Independent. 4 January 2014. Archived from the original on 2 July 2018. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  18. ^ Tierney, Declan. "Tuam LEA: Keaveney returns as Tom McHugh loses out at the death". Connach Tribune. Archived from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  19. ^ Conway, Gail (11 June 2024). "Former TD Colm Keaveney in court over drug driving charge". RTÉ. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
Party political offices
Preceded by Chairperson of the Labour Party
2012–2013 		Succeeded by
Lorraine Mulligan
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