Noel Grealish

Noel Grealish (born 16 December 1965) is an Irish Independent politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Galway West constituency since the 2002 general election.^[1]

He is from the Gaeltacht region of Carnmore, near Galway. He was formerly a Progressive Democrats member.

Grealish first contested an election in 1999, when he was elected to Galway County Council to represent the Oranmore electoral area, with 1,357 first preferences. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 2002 general election, with 2,735 first preferences, succeeding long-serving TD Bobby Molloy.^[1]

He was re-elected at the 2007 general election, with 5,806 first preferences.^[2] As one of only two Progressive Democrat TDs elected in 2007, he was appointed as Chairman of the Progressive Democrats parliamentary party in June 2007. He was Deputy Leader of the Progressive Democrats from 25 May 2007 to 24 March 2009, succeeding Liz O'Donnell in the position. Towards the end of 2007, Grealish stated that he had discussions with a senior Fianna Fáil politician about the possibility of him joining Fianna Fáil,^[3] but made the decision to stay with the Progressive Democrats.

He assumed the leadership of the Progressive Democrats on 24 March 2009, following the decision of then-leader Ciarán Cannon to stand aside and join Fine Gael. Grealish served as interim and final leader of the party until 20 November 2009, at which point the party disbanded.

He sits as an Independent TD in Dáil Éireann, and was re-elected as an Independent deputy at the 2011 general election and 2016 general election. He supported the Fianna Fáil-Green Party government in parliamentary votes from 2007 until September 2010, but on 24 September 2010, he announced that he was withdrawing his support for the government due to health cuts.^[4][5]

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