Adrian Kavanagh,17th July 2024 – latest update: 22nd October 2024

Following on similar posts that were completed ahead of the 2011 General Election, the 2016 General Election and the 2020 General Election, this post will list all of the Dail deputies who have retired/stepped down during the lifetime of the current Dail or who have announced that they will not be contesting the next general election. This list will not include any outgoing Dail deputies, who did contest their party’s selection convention but failed to win a nomination.

Thirty of the TDs who were elected in 2020 will be retiring at the next election/not contesting the next election, amounting to 18.7% of the Dáil deputies who held seats after the 2020 Dail contest.

This number does not include the four TDs who relinquished their Dáil seats after winning seats at the 2024 European Parliament elections – Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour, Dublin Bay North), Barry Cowen (Fianna Fáil, Laois-Offaly), Michael McNamara (Independent, Clare) and Kathleen Funchion (Sinn Féin, Carlow-Kilkenny) – or Michael McGrath (Fianna Fáil, Cork South-Central), who was appointed as the new EU Commissioner for the Republic of Ireland. The total number would increase to thirty five (21.9% of the total number elected in 2020) if this group of new MEPs were also included) and to thirty six (22.5%) of the total number elected in 2020) if Eoghan Murphy (Fine Gael, Dublin Bay South), who retired during the lifetime of the 32nd Dáil, was also included. 

Twenty nine of the TDs in this group (so far) are male (79.4%), while seven are female (19.4%). This means that 23.6% of the male TDs, who were elected in February 2020, will be stepping down at the next general election, as against 18.9% of the female TDs, who were elected in February 2020. 

176 of the TDs who will be stepping down at the general election are Fine Gael TDs, 3 are Fianna Fáil TDs, 2 are Labour Party TDs, 2 are Social Democrat TDs, 2 are Independent/Non-Party TD, 1 is a Sinn Féin TD, 1 is a Green Party TD, and 1 is a PBP-Solidarity TD.

If we consider all the TDs who were elected in February 2020 and will not be contesting the next general election (including Eoghan Murphy and the former Deputies who are now based in Europe), then we can see that 18 of the TDs who were elected for Fine Gael in February 2020 (51.4% of the total) will not be contesting the next general election, as well as 6 of the TDs who were elected for Fianna Fáil in February 2020, including Marc McSharry, (18.4% of the total), 3 of the TDs who were elected as Non Party candidates in February 2020, not including Marc McSharry (15.0% of the total), 3 of the TDs who were elected for Labour in February 2020 (50.0% of the total – Ivana Bacik won a seat a year later), 2 of the TDs who were elected for the Social Democrats in February 2020 (33.3% of the total), 2 of the TDs who were elected for Sinn Féin in February 2020 (5.4% of the total), 1 of the TDs who were elected for People Before Profit-Solidarity in February 2020 (20.0% of the total), and 1 of the TDs who were elected for the Green Party in February 2020 (8.3% of the total).

So far, the level of TDs retiring/stepping down at the coming general election is not on a par with the level for the 2011 General Elections, as discussed in greater detail here, but exceeds the level of retirements ahead of the 2016 and 2020 elections. 38 of the TDs who were elected in 2007 retired during the lifetime of the 30th Dail or retired at the 2011 contest, amounting to 22.9% of the TDs elected at the 2007 election. 6 of the retiring TDs in 2011 were female (15.8% of the total number of retiring TDs and 27.3% of the females elected at the 2007 contest) and 32 were male (22.2% of males elected at 2007 election). 21 of the TDs who were elected in 2011 (including the Dublin West by-election) retired/resigned during the lifetime of the 31st Dail or else retired/decided not to contest the 2016 General Election, amounting to 12.7% of the Dail deputies who held seats after the 2011 Dail contests. Nineteen of the TDs in this group were male and two were female. 19 of the TDs who were elected in 2016 retired/resigned during the lifetime of the 31st Dail or else retired/decided not to contest the 2020 General Election, amounting to 12.0% of the Dail deputies who held seats after the 2016 Dáil contest. Seventeen of the TDs in this group were male and two were female.

This post will be updated if, and when, more TDs announce that they have decided not to contest the next general election.