English will not contest next election
Mesth West TD withdraws from selection convention
Former Minister Damien English tonight confirmed he is retiring from politics.
At tonight's Fine Gael Selection convention for Meath West in the Newgrange Hotel he told party members he would not be seeking the party's nomination.
"I've decided after 25 years in politics, it is time to step down.
"It is time for a new candidate and I will throw my weight behind the new candidate We need a good strong voice for Meath West."
Damien English was elected in the 1999 local elections for the Navan area. The Bohermeen farmer's son was a management accountancy student at the time, who had been a part-time employee of the North Eastern Health Board.
He was added onto the party ticket for the General Election in 2002, joining former Taoiseach, John Bruton, and another sitting deputy, John V Farrelly.
That 2002 election, which used electronic voting in the constituency as an experimental pilot saw Damien English take the fourth seat in a then five-seater Meath and he was the youngest member of the Dail at just 24.
By the time the elections for the 30th Dáil came around in 2007, the constituency had been split into Meath East and Meath West, and English retained the third seat.
He backed fellow Meath-man Richard Bruton against Enda Kenny in a party leadership confidence vote in 2010, but the party leader won out. It didn't do English any harm, as he was made the Fine Gael deputy spokesperson for finance, with special responsibility for banking and credit, from October 2010 to March 2011.
In the March 2011 General Election, he was the only sitting deputy from Meath West who ran for the 31st Dail, and with FG performing well at the time, he topped the poll with 9,290 votes, bringing a running mate, Trim's Ray Butler with him as they capitalised on Noel Dempsey's retirement from politics.
Three years later, he was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and at the Department of Education and Skills with responsibility for Skills, Research and Innovation, and when Fine Gael returned to power in 2016, he served under Simon Coveney as senior minister in the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, with responsibility for Housing and Urban Renewal.He served at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government with responsibility for Housing and Urban Development from 2017 to 2020. In July 2020, he was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment with responsibility for Employment Affairs and Retail Businesses, and at the Department of Social Protection with responsibility for Redundancy and Insolvency Operations and Employer Services.
During these junior ministries, he worked alongside Simon Coveney and Leo Varadkar, the Fine Gael leader and deputy leader, and was a high profile media performer, often sent out to bat for the Government on radio and TV shows. During his period in the Local Government department, he saw the channeling of funds for major regeneration projects around Navan, currently in planning stages with Meath County Council.
However, in the 2020 General Election, his first preference vote had dropped to 5,499 as Sinn Fein's Johnny Quirke and former Sinn Fein TD turned Aontú leader, Peadar Toibín, came in ahead of him.
In January last year Deputy English resigned his position as Minister for State after irregularities over his planning application to Meath Co Council for his family house surfaced. The Ditch news website published a story claiming English failed to declare ownership of an existing home in his planning application for a new property in 2008. It also claimed he neglected to declare such ownership in the Dáil register of interests.