Damien English becomes latest Fine Gael TD to drop out of election race

Former junior minister Damien English has decided not to run in the upcoming general election.

It means that 17 of the 35 Fine Gael TDs who won seats in 2020 have confirmed they will not run in the election that could happen as early as November.

Mr English’s decision emerged on Wednesday evening as Fine Gael held its selection convention for the Meath West constituency.

The TD resigned from his role as a minister of State at the Department of Enterprise last year after it was revealed he gave incorrect information to a local authority when making a planning application.

His resignation came after a report on The Ditch website outlining how he did not declare his ownership of a house at Castlemartin, Co Meath, when he made a planning application in 2008 to built a new one-off rural home nearby.

The website also suggested Mr English should have declared the property in his returns to the Dáil’s Register of Members’ Interests for more than a decade.

Mr English insisted he did not have to do this as the property was for “family use”.

It was reported last year that the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) decided it would not investigate Mr English after concluding he had complied with the Ethics in Public Office Act in his annual declarations.

Mr English is the latest in a series of Fine Gael politicians to announce their impending departure in recent months, including former taoiseach Leo Varadkar and former tánaiste Simon Coveney.