FOURTEEN TDs have now announced they will not stand in the general election later this year, many of them citing weariness with the demands of political life as the reason.
Nine of those retiring are from Fianna Fail, three from Fine Gael and one each from Labour and the Progressive Democrats.
Mr Pat "The Cope" Gallagher, who announced his decision last Tuesday, is the third of the three Fianna Fail deputies who are also MEPs to opt to continue their political careers in Europe. The other two are Mr Gerard Collins (Limerick West) and Mr Liam Hyland (Laois Offaly). All political parties now require holders of the dual mandate to choose between the Dail and the European Parliament at the next election to either body.
The other Fianna Fail deputies standing down are Mr Ger Connolly (Laois Offaly), Mr Colm Hilliard (Meath), Mr Jimmy Leonard (Cavan Monaghan), Mr Michael J. Noonan (Limerick West), Mr John O'Leary (Kerry South) and Mrs Maire Geoghegan Quinn.
The most senior Fine Gael deputy retiring is Mr Peter Barry (Cork South Central) who announced his decision in 1993.
Another former Fine Gael minister, Mr Jim Mitchell, said he was quitting while his children were still young to allow him to catch up on some of the family life he had missed "while working 100 hours a week in politics". He also remarked that politics had become "deadly boring" since the development of consensus politics.
According to another Fine Gael TD standing down, Mr Ted Nealon (Sligo Leitrim), "the nature of the work of a deputy, under our present electoral system, means that it totally dominates one's life.
Age is seen as having been a factor in the decision of the Labour deputy Mr John Ryan (Tipperary North) and the Progressive Democrats deputy Mr Peadar Clohessy. (Limerick East) to retire.
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