Cork's Michael Creed to retire as a TD

Cork North-West Michael Creed is to retire as a TD at the end of the current term. 

The Fine Gael TD and former Minister for Agriculture is believed to have told a private party meeting that he would not be contesting the next general election.

Mr Creed made the comments at a Fine Gael AGM in Millstreet on Monday night, according to the Irish Examiner. 

Mr Creed was first elected to the Dáil in 1989 before losing his seat in the 2002 general election. He regained it five years later and was made Fine Gael agriculture spokesperson.

He served as minister for agriculture, food and the marine from 2016 to 2020.

His decision to retire as a TD makes him the fourth sitting Fine Gael TD who has said they will not contest the next election. 

Earlier this month, Carlow-Kilkenny TD John Paul Phelan announced he would resign at the end of the Dáil term, while Kerry TD Brendan Griffin and Donegal TD Joe McHugh have also said they will not run. 

"The situation is within Fine Gael, we have a large number of TDs who have more than 20 years service, some of up to 40 years service,” Taoiseach and Fine Gael party leader Leo Varadkar said last week. 

“They have been in government, they have been in opposition, they have given decades of service to their communities, to their country and to their party and they are not going to contest the next election. 

That is the nature of things when people have done a job for 20 or 30 years, they often want to move on and I entirely understand that and that’s the reason why they’re doing so.”