Constituency Waterford Role Politician | Name John Halligan Nationality Irish | |
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Other politicalaffiliations Workers' Party (1985–2008) | ||
Political party Independent politician | ||
Waterford politician s john halligan and seamus ryan dance
John Halligan (born 18 January 1955) is an Irish Independent politician who has served as Minister of State for Training and Skills since May 2016. He has been a Teachta Dála (TD) since 2011, currently for the Waterford constituency.
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He was first elected to the Waterford City Council in 1999 for the Workers' Party of Ireland. At the 2004 local elections he topped the poll in Waterford No. 3 electoral area. In February 2008 he resigned from the Workers' Party when the party refused to drop its opposition to service charges, which Halligan supported. In 2009, as an independent candidate, Halligan again topped the poll in his area. After the 2009 elections, Halligan entered into a pact with Fine Gael and the Labour Party on Waterford City Council and was duly elected Mayor of Waterford city serving from 2009 to 2010. He was an unsuccessful Workers' Party candidate for the Waterford constituency at the 2002 and 2007 general elections.
He was elected as a TD for the Waterford constituency at the 2011 general election receiving 5,546 first preference votes (10.3%) and was elected on the 11th count. Following his election to the Dáil in February 2011, Sean Reinhardt was co-opted to replace Halligan on Waterford City Council. In March 2011, Halligan joined the Dáil technical group allowing himself more speaking time in Dáil debates. On 15 December 2011, he helped launch a nationwide campaign against a proposed household charge being brought in as part of the 2012 Irish budget.
He joined the Independent Alliance upon its inception in 2015. On 27 February 2016, he was re-elected as a TD for Waterford at the general election, receiving 8,306 first preference votes and was elected on the 8th count. After a spell of prolonged talks on government formation, Halligan voted for Enda Kenny as Taoiseach on 6 May 2016, allowing Kenny to become the first Leader of Fine Gael re-elected to this office.