John Cummins (Irish politician)

John Cummins is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has served as a Senator for the Labour Panel since April 2020.[1]

Senator

John Cummins
Senator
Assumed office
20 April 2020
ConstituencyLabour Panel
Personal details
BornWaterford, Ireland
NationalityIrish
Political partyFine Gael
Alma materUniversity of Limerick

Political career

Cummins was elected to Waterford City Council in 2009.[2] In 2010, he was elected as Chairman of the South East Regional Authority.[3] He served his first term as Mayor of Waterford in 2013; at the age of 25, he was the youngest person ever to hold that office.[4] He was subsequently re-elected to the amalgamated Waterford City and County Council in 2014,[5] and served his second term as Mayor in 2015/16.[6] He was re-elected in 2019.

Cummins unsuccessfully contested the 2020 general election in the Waterford constituency.[7] He was subsequently elected in the 2020 Seanad election as a Senator for the Labour Panel.[8]

He was appointed as the Fine Gael Spokesperson on Housing, Local Government and Heritage by Leo Varadkar.

He lost the party whip in August 2020 following his involvement in the Oireachtas Golf Society scandal,[9][10] which saw him ignore the public health guidelines of his government with regard to COVID-19. He shared a table with an ex-TD who recently returned from a golf trip to Spain and had failed to self isolate for the required fourteen days.[11]

On 3 September 2020, fifteen days after the event he appeared on local radio and apologised repeatedly but deemed it unnecessary to resign.[12]

References
  1. "John Cummins". Oireachtas Members Database. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  2. "Waterford City Council: (Waterford City South) 2009 Local Election Results, Counts, Stats and Analysis". irelandelection.com. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  3. "Cllr John Cummins elected Chairman Regional Authority". Munster Express Online. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  4. "John Cummins becomes the city's youngest Mayor". Munster Express Online. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  5. Quinn, Claire. "Total of 32 elected to newly amalgamated Waterford councils". The Irish Times. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  6. "Cummins becomes Mayor on Birthday". Munster Express Online. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  7. "Waterford Fine Gael Fails to Win General Election Seat in Constituency for First Time". Irish Times. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  8. Aherne, Sinead. "Waterford Councillor secures Seanad Seat". WLR. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  9. "Westmeath senators lose Fianna Fáil party whip". Westmeath Independent.
  10. Daly, Adam. "Irish Hotels Federation says it sought Department advice on indoor gatherings prior to golf event". TheJournal.ie.
  11. Gallagher, Conor. "Former TD attended controversial golf dinner days after trip to Spain". The Irish Times.
  12. "Waterford senator John Cummins breaks silence on Golfgate dinner". Irish Examiner. 3 September 2020.


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