Colm Keaveney
{{Short description|Irish former politician (born 1971)}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=June 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| nationality = Irish
| image =
| office = Teachta Dála
| term_start = February 2011
| term_end = February 2016
| constituency = Galway East
| party = Fianna Fáil {{small|(since 2013)}}
| otherparty = Labour Party
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1971|1|11|df=y}}
| birth_place = County Galway, Ireland
| spouse =
| website =
}}
Colm Keaveney (born 11 January 1971) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician.{{cite web |url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Colm-Keaveney.D.2011-03-09/ |title=Colm Keaveney |work=Oireachtas Members Database |access-date=5 October 2011 |archive-date=8 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180708074707/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Colm-Keaveney.D.2011-03-09/ |url-status=live}} He was elected as a Labour Party Teachta Dála (TD) for the Galway East constituency at the 2011 general election,{{cite web |url=http://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=4319 |title=Colm Keaveney |work=ElectionsIreland.org|access-date=5 October 2011 |archive-date=6 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110306044752/http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?id=4319 |url-status=live}} He sat as an Independent TD after losing the Labour whip in December 2012.{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/1213/breaking22.html |title=Labour chairman Keaveney votes against Government |newspaper=The Irish Times |access-date=13 December 2012 |archive-date=13 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121213154503/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/1213/breaking22.html |url-status=live}} He resigned from the party in June 2013, and joined Fianna Fáil in December 2013. He is a former chairperson of the Labour Party. He lost his seat at the 2016 general election and was elected to Galway County Council in 2019.
Origins
He is originally from the village of Garrafrauns, in north County Galway.Tuam Herald, Vol. 174, No. 41, p.1. Issue date 17 February 2011. {{ISSN|2009-3136}} He was educated at St.Patrick's P.S. and St Jarlath's College in Tuam.{{cite web |url=http://www.testingtimeishereanditsfun.com/testing/people/colm-keaveney/ |title=Colm Keaveney |work=Fianna Fáil |access-date=4 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181104020049/http://www.testingtimeishereanditsfun.com/testing/people/colm-keaveney/ |archive-date=4 November 2018 |url-status=dead}}
Political career
Keaveney was an unsuccessful candidate in Galway East at the 1997 general election. He was first elected to Tuam Town Council in the 1999 local elections. In 2004 he was elected to Galway County Council, gaining just under 2,000 votes in the Tuam electoral area.
He is a former SIPTU trade union official and former president of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI).{{cite news|title=Restoration of social welfare rights sought|newspaper=The Irish Times|page=9|date=23 March 1996}}
At the 2011 general election, he was elected as the first ever Labour Party TD for the Galway East constituency,The Tuam Herald, Vol. 174, No. 43, p.1. Issue date 3 March 2011. {{ISSN|2009-3136}} taking the last seat on the ninth count with a total poll of 10,126 votes.
At the 2012 Labour Party Conference in Galway, he was elected Chairman of the Labour Party. Following the publication of the 2012 Constituency Commission report, he was listed by The Irish Times as one of 13 TDs most likely to lose their seats in the next election. New boundaries saw Galway East lose a seat and the transfer of 20,500 voters out of the constituency, centred on his home town of Tuam.{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0622/1224318455972.html|title=The TDs Facing A Battle|date=25 March 2009|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=18 August 2012|archive-date=23 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120623024311/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0622/1224318455972.html|url-status=live}}
On 13 December 2012, he voted against the government on the cut to the respite care grant, which formed part of the 2013 budget; this led to his loss of the Parliamentary Labour Party whip. In a tweet just before the vote in the Dáil, he said "Acta non-verba", Latin for "deeds not words".{{cite web|url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/blow-for-gilmore-as-labour-chairman-colm-keaveney-quits-parliamentary-party-over-welfare-cuts-3325465.html|title=Blow for Gilmore as Labour chairman Colm Keaveney quits parliamentary party over welfare cuts|date=13 December 2012|work=Irish Independent|access-date=14 December 2012|archive-date=16 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121216060001/http://www.independent.ie/national-news/blow-for-gilmore-as-labour-chairman-colm-keaveney-quits-parliamentary-party-over-welfare-cuts-3325465.html|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/1213/dail-child-benefit.html|title=Labour TD Colm Keaveney votes against Social Welfare Bill|date=13 December 2012|publisher=RTÉ News|access-date=14 December 2012|archive-date=14 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121214060533/http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/1213/dail-child-benefit.html|url-status=live}} He remained as Chairman of the Labour Party, as he was elected by the party members. Keaveney resigned from the party on 26 June 2013.{{cite web|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0626/458970-keaveney-labour/|title=Colm Keaveney resigns from Labour Party|date=26 June 2013|publisher=RTÉ News|access-date=26 June 2013|archive-date=29 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130629011319/http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0626/458970-keaveney-labour/|url-status=live}} Keaveney vocally opposed the government's Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013, both because of the absence of a time limit for termination and because he feared that the "suicide" clause would "normalise" suicide at a time when it was already becoming a serious problem in Ireland.Colm Keaveney, [http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/column-i-have-always-considered-myself-pro-choice-but-i-cant-support-the-proposed-abortion-bill-924815-May2013/ I have always considered myself pro-choice but I can't support the proposed abortion bill] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130710031052/http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/column-i-have-always-considered-myself-pro-choice-but-i-cant-support-the-proposed-abortion-bill-924815-May2013/ |date=10 July 2013 }}, The Journal, 25 May 2013 He had previously expressed pro-choice views, telling a Tuam Town Council debate in 2000 that abortion was "the last resort for women and every aspect of a woman’s decision should be looked at and taken into consideration" and that anti-abortion literature distributed by colleague Martin Ward was "sickening and offensive".Connacht Tribune, Vol. 91, No. 10, p. 2. Issue date 2 March 2000. {{ISSN|0791-1807}}
In December 2013, he joined Fianna Fáil.{{cite web|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/1203/490600-colm-keaveney-fianna-fail/|title=Former Labour Party chairman Colm Keaveney joins Fianna Fáil|date=3 December 2013|publisher=RTÉ News|access-date=3 December 2013|archive-date=3 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203222818/http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/1203/490600-colm-keaveney-fianna-fail/|url-status=live}} Keaveney said that Fianna Fáil "... has learned from its mistakes in the past" and he would be a Fianna Fáil candidate at the next general election for Galway East. In response to his application, Labour TD Pat Rabbitte, who had clashed with Keaveney repeatedly, derisively referred to it as "a match made in heaven".{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/keaveney-joins-fianna-f%C3%A1il-and-will-run-in-galway-east-1.1615482|title=Keaveney joins Fianna Fáil and will run in Galway East|date=3 December 2013|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=3 December 2013}}
Keaveney's defection was met with opposition from local members of Fianna Fáil in Galway East, particularly from supporters of local TD Michael Kitt and former MEP Mark Killilea. Fianna Fáil leader Michéal Martin was forced to deny rumours that Keaveney would be selected as the sole candidate for the party in the next general election.{{cite web|url=http://www.connachttribune.ie/galway-news/item/1887-grassroots-fianna-fail-members-seething-over-keaveney-move |archive-url=https://archive.today/20131205184658/http://www.connachttribune.ie/galway-news/item/1887-grassroots-fianna-fail-members-seething-over-keaveney-move |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 December 2013 |title=Grassroots Fianna Fáil Members seething over Keaveney move |date=5 December 2013 |work=The Connacht Tribune |access-date=5 December 2013 }}{{Cite web|title='No deal with Labour convert', Martin will tell angry grassroots|url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/no-deal-with-labour-convert-martin-will-tell-angry-grassroots-29887308.html|access-date=2020-11-03|website=The Independent|date=4 January 2014 |language=en|archive-date=2 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180702011051/https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/no-deal-with-labour-convert-martin-will-tell-angry-grassroots-29887308.html|url-status=live}}
He was an unsuccessful Fianna Fáil candidate in the Galway East constituency at the 2016 general election and was elected to the Tuam local electoral area at the 2019 Galway County Council election.{{Cite web|last=Tierney|first=Declan|title=Tuam LEA: Keaveney returns as Tom McHugh loses out at the death|url=https://connachttribune.ie/tuam-lea-keaveney-returns-as-mchugh-loses-out-at-the-death-132/|url-status=live|access-date=3 November 2020|website=Connach Tribune|language=en|archive-date=27 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190527114418/https://connachttribune.ie/tuam-lea-keaveney-returns-as-mchugh-loses-out-at-the-death-132/}}
Keaveney did not contest the 2024 Galway County Council election.
Drug driving
On 11 June 2024 Keaveney was charged with driving under the influence of cocaine under an alleged incident that occurred on 12 June 2023.{{cite news |last1=Conway |first1=Gail |title=Former TD Colm Keaveney in court over drug driving charge |url=https://www.rte.ie/news/regional/2024/0611/1454203-keaveney-court/ |access-date=4 July 2024 |agency=RTÉ |date=11 June 2024}}
References
{{Reflist}}
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{{s-bef|before = Brian O'Shea}}
{{s-ttl|title = Chairperson of the Labour Party
|years = 2012–2013}}
{{s-aft|after = Lorraine Mulligan}}
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{{Galway East (Dáil constituency)/TDs}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keaveney, Colm}}
Category:Alumni of University College Dublin
Category:Labour Party (Ireland) TDs
Category:Members of Galway County Council
Category:Members of the 31st Dáil
Category:People educated at St Jarlath's College
Category:Politicians from County Galway
Category:Trade unionists from County Galway