Cork East TD David Stanton bowing out after life of service

VETERAN Fine Gael TD David Stanton has expressed confidence in the future of the party, but said he believes the time is right for him to bow out of the political limelight.

The Cork East TD announced his decision not to contest the next general election last May and, speaking to The Echo in recent days, it’s one he has not changed his mind on.

“There comes a time when you have to say to yourself: ‘Will I be able to give it my best?’

“‘Will I have the energy as I get older, as I cross the 70 threshold travelling up and down to Dublin every week for another five years?’

“I’ll have to go at some stage and this seemed like a good time when I’m going well, when I still have energy and health and ability and so on,” he said.

The Midleton resident is one of 11 Fine Gael TDs who have said they will not stand in the next general election.

Renewal

Despite this, Mr Stanton said he is positive about the future of the party, saying now represents an opportunity for “renewal”.

He described Simon Harris, the new Fine Gael leader who is on course to become the youngest-ever Taoiseach, as an experienced politician who is “very bright, very articulate, very friendly, and very good with people”.

Mr Stanton has held the Cork East seat in every general election for close to three decades, having first been elected in 1997.

Reflecting on what drew him to politics, the 68-year-old said he always had an appetite for community involvement — joining Macra na Tuaithe, now Foróige, as a young teen and later helping to run dances out in Ladysbridge.

Then came an example of what could be achieved through community activism, which further encouraged him.

“When I was teaching, working as a home school community liaison teacher, I noticed in Midleton where I was teaching, there was no youth centre,” he said.

“One night there was a meeting called, they wanted to set up a day care centre for older people who were confined to their homes from one end of the week to the next.

“So I went along to that meeting and lo and behold, I found myself put on the committee.

“There was a big crowd there, they didn’t have any money, just an idea, and — long story short — we went to see the minister at the time.

“I wasn’t involved in politics at the time, but I rang Paul Bradford, he introduced me to Michael Noonan, I made a presentation and he agreed to fund it pound for pound — anything we raised he’d give us the same.

“Anyway, the McAuley Day Care Centre is up and running in Midleton for quite a while — 25/26 years.

“We built it and it’s there. That gave me great satisfaction.”

Ahead of the 1997 general election, Mr Stanton was approached and asked if he would be interested in running as a Fine Gael candidate.

He agreed and that year he was elected to the Dáil.

Full circle moment

Mr Stanton said he was pleased to experience a “full circle” moment some years ago.

“A number of years ago, the old fire station in Midleton became available and I put together a committee led by a great guy, Denis Ring — the former principal of the CBS in Midleton — and we formed a committee and a board and we have now the My Place centre in Midleton, which is a youth and community centre,” he said.

“There are over 1,000 people a week using it. We’ve a great team running it.

“Then we also linked up with the community centre in Midleton, which we got a lot of funding for, and modernised it and did it up as well.

“So it has come full circle at this stage from being involved way back in Ladysbridge to having the two centres in Midleton now up and running.”

Among the highlights of his political career, Mr Stanton cites his time serving as a minister of State in the Department of Justice as a major one.

During that time, he said he was proud to steer legislation to deal with coercive control through the Oireachtas.

National Missing Persons Day

Mr Stanton said he also played a role in establishing a National Missing Persons Day, having been inspired by a presentation from students in Mallow.

“One of the asks that they [the students] had was to establish a National Missing Persons Day,” he said.

“I was chairman of the justice committee and I invited them up to the Oireachtas to make a presentation and they did… long story short, we established the National Missing Persons Day on the back of that.”

Held annually, it is a commemorative event and provides a nationwide platform to appeal to the public for any information on missing persons.

It’s an occasion, Mr Stanton said, which “means an awful lot to the people whose loved ones have gone missing”.

Ahead of the next general election, Mr Stanton said he is “working as hard as ever” in the Dáil and is keen to see progress on a number of matters before the end of the Coalition’s term in Government — chief among them headway on the Midleton Flood Relief Scheme.

“We’ve had the awful flooding here in Midleton and I’d like to see that particular flood plan moving on faster than it’s moving, and I’d like to see it going to planning as soon as possible,” he said.

Coastal communities

Action for vulnerable coastal communities amid rising sea levels is also a key priority for Mr Stanton.

“We need to start either moving people away from those vulnerable coastlines or else putting up barriers and defences like the Dutch have done,” he said.

“I’ve raised it more than once in the Oireachtas and I’ll be raising it again, it’s very important to me.”

Looking ahead to life after the Dáil, Mr Stanton said he has set his sights on increasing time with family and community groups.

“I’ll stay involved in Fine Gael and support our candidates and our people who are out there and who are coming forward because anyone who puts their name on the ballot paper nowadays, in particular, they need support,” he added.