Michael McCarthy (politician)

He was elected to Cork County Council in 1999 for the Skibbereen LEA, serving until 2003, having to resign as a sitting Oireachtas member as a result of the abolition of the dual mandate.[2][7][8]

McCarthy stood unsuccessfully as a Labour Party candidate for the Cork South-West constituency at the 2002 and 2007 general elections. He was a Senator for the Labour Panel from 2002 to 2011 (re-elected in 2007). He was the only Labour candidate elected for the Labour Panel in the 2002 Seanad election, at the age of 25.[4][1] His mother, Phyllis McCarthy, contested the 2004 local elections for Labour.[9]

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.[10] His wife, Nollagh McCarthy, gave birth to a baby boy during the election campaign. They had one son by this time, named Odhran.[11] In 2012, he chaired a joint committee on the Environment, Culture and Gaeltacht.[12] That year, McCarthy took part in a prank known as ‘Pizzagate’ on Tipperary South TD Mattie McGrath, who was staging a sit-in at the headquarters of the Friends First Finance company, following an incident involving the attempted repossession of a tractor from a family farm in Wexford. McCarthy impersonated a pizza delivery man. He pretended to be an Italian, allegedly saying; “You no like bank. And we no like bank, so we want to send you pizza. Solidarity!" He was told by McGrath, who fell for the joke, to bring four pizzas to the protest. McGrath reacted angrily when he found out that it was a prank. McGrath said "pizzagate" had helped him by allowing him to highlight the issue of bank repossessions. Fianna Fail TD Michael Moynihan has described it as a prank that was made in good spirit, while Fine Gael TD Tom Hayes said there was no harm meant. Fine Gael TD Patrick O'Donovan was also involved. Dara Calleary TD denied any involvement in the prank.[13][14]

In 2013, despite Labour's membership of the coalition, he opposed the Government's campaign to abolish the Seanad.[15] His sister, Norma Thomson, contested the 2014 local elections for Labour.[16][17] In 2014, he ran for Deputy Leadership of the Labour Party. He told the Irish Independent that threatening phone calls had been made to his constituency office following his criticism of Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams’ “five-star trip to the US” in an interview on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland. The paper reported that he had “received a furry of abuse, via phone calls and emails, since he criticised the Sinn Fein leadership.” McCarthy claimed that he was told that he and his party colleagues would be "urinated on" as a result of his criticism.[18][19] McCarthy chaired the Local Government Efficiency Review (LGER) and the LGER Implementation Group.[20][21] He was chair of the Oireachtas committee on housing.[22] He lost his seat at the 2016 general election.[2] After losing his seat, he said that he had left public life.[23]

In 2017, it was reported that McCarthy was appointed CEO of the Irish Solar Energy Association.[24] He was appointed to the board of Sophia Housing, a national housing charity.[25] In 2018, McCarthy was also appointed chair of the National Oversight and Audit Commission (NOAC).[26] In 2021, he was appointed director of Cloud Infrastructure Ireland (CII), a trade association within the employer group Ibec.[27][28]