Michael McCarthy (politician)

Michael McCarthy (born 15 November 1976) is an Irish former Labour Party politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cork South-West constituency from 2011 to 2016. He was a Senator for the Labour Panel from 2002 to 2011 and previously served as a local councillor on the Cork County Council from 1999 to 2003.^[1][2]

He acted as Labour Party spokesperson on Marine, and in the Seanad served as spokesperson on Agriculture, Community and Rural Affairs, as well as Communications, Marine and Natural Resources.

McCarthy is the son of Phyllis and Michael McCarthy and grew up in Dunmanway. At the time of the 1999 local elections, he was employed at the Schering Plough pharmaceutical plant in Brinny, West Cork.^[3][4]

He was elected to Cork County Council in 1999 for the Skibbereen area, serving until 2003, having to resign as a sitting Oireachtas member as a result of the abolition of the dual mandate.^[2][5][6] McCarthy served as chairperson of the Western committee and as vice-chairman of Cork County Council.^[7]

McCarthy was an unsuccessful Labour candidate for the Cork South-West constituency in both the 2002 and 2007 general elections. He was elected to Seanad Éireann in 2002 via the Labour Panel, becoming the only Labour candidate elected from that panel at the age of 25. He was re-elected in 2007 and served in the Seanad until 2011.^[4][1] His mother, Phyllis McCarthy, also stood as a Labour candidate in the 2004 local elections.^[8]

He was elected to the Dáil at the 2011 general election.^[2] He claimed to be the fourth TD from Dunmanway to be elected to the Dail.^[9]

In 2012, he chaired a joint committee on the Environment, Culture and Gaeltacht.^[10] In 2013, McCarthy opposed the Government's referendum to abolish the Seanad, despite Labour’s role in the coalition and risked losing the party whip as a result.^[11]

As chair of the Oireachtas environment committee, he oversaw discussions on proposed climate change legislation. The committee was divided over whether the legislation should include binding targets for emissions reductions by 2050. The draft report, prepared with input from the National Economic and Social Council, received public attention before its official publication.^[12]

In 2014, McCarthy contested the deputy leadership of the Labour Party, alongside Alan Kelly, Seán Sherlock and Ciara Conway. Alan Kelly was elected to the position.^[13]

McCarthy criticised Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams' trip to the United States in a radio interview, referring to it as a “five-star trip”. He later told the Irish Independent that his constituency office had received threatening phone calls in response.^[14][15] During this period, McCarthy chaired both the Local Government Efficiency Review (LGER) and its Implementation Group,^[16][17] and also served as chair of the Oireachtas committee on housing.^[18] In December 2014, he was among a number of Labour TDs who missed a Dáil vote on a bill to repeal the 8th Amendment.^[19]

McCarthy lost his seat at the 2016 general election.^[2] Reflecting on his political career, he told The Irish Times that “longevity in politics was no longer guaranteed”, and later confirmed to the Southern Star that he had left public life.^[20][21] In 2016, as chair of the Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht, he supported a project to establish a library at the London Irish Centre, which resulted in the donation of over 10,000 books and publications.^[22]

After leaving electoral politics, McCarthy held several roles in the renewable energy, housing and public policy sectors. In 2017, he became CEO of the Irish Solar Energy Association.^[23] He later joined the board of Sophia Housing, a national charity. In 2018, he was appointed chair of the National Oversight and Audit Commission (NOAC).^[24] Since 2021, he has served as director of Cloud Infrastructure Ireland, a trade association within the employer group Ibec.^[25][26]