John Dwyer is a left-wing politician, Irish republican, and former trade union representative from New Ross in County Wexford. He has served two separate periods on Wexford County Council and previously served on the New Ross Urban District Council before its abolition in 2014.
Name: John Dwyer.
Category: Politician.
At the age of 17, Dwyer left school to work in a factory. Within three months, he had become a union shop steward. He entered organised politics when he became a member of Sinn Féin in 1981.
On 10 June 1999, Dwyer was elected to the New Ross Urban District Council in the town council elections as a Sinn Féin candidate, winning the final seat after the 14th count. On the same day, he contested the local elections for Wexford County Council but was eliminated after the second count.
During the 2002 general election, Dwyer failed to win a seat as a Sinn Féin candidate in the Wexford Dáil constituency.
In 2004, he ran as the Sinn Féin candidate for the East constituency in the European elections, receiving 8.7% of the first-preference votes and being eliminated after the fifth count.
During the 2004 town council elections, Dwyer successfully reclaimed his seat on the New Ross Urban District Council. That same day, he also won a seat on Wexford County Council.
In November 2006, the Wexford People reported that a senior Sinn Féin member had questioned Dwyer’s ability to win a Dáil seat for the party. The source attributed his low poll ratings to his tendency to criticise Fianna Fáil, suggesting his criticisms were preventing him from receiving transfers from Fianna Fáil voters.
In May 2007, Dwyer contested his second general election as a Sinn Féin candidate but failed to improve on his 2002 result and was eliminated after the fourth count.
On 5 June 2009, Dwyer faced mixed results. Although he reclaimed his place on the New Ross Urban District Council, he lost his seat on Wexford County Council.
Ten days after the 2009 local elections, Dwyer left Sinn Féin. He later told the local press that he felt the party’s leadership had failed to campaign in several areas throughout County Wexford and that he had become disenchanted with the national politics being espoused by the party. The decision followed months of rumours of infighting within the Wexford branch.
During summer 2010, Dwyer was elected Cathaoirleach, or chairperson, of the New Ross Urban District Council.
In 2011, Dwyer contested his third general election, this time as an Independent candidate. After the first count, his first-preference votes had dropped by 82% since 2007. He blamed his defeat on a lack of financial resources and the decision of Mick Wallace to enter the race. He stated that voters had given Wallace a “personality vote” and that it was a “sad reflection that personality politics still hold sway in County Wexford.” He also criticised those who had failed to vote, saying: “I am disheartened that people I would have assisted decided they would not go out and vote. People were not returning the assistance I gave them.”
In 2012, Dwyer joined éirígí, a socialist republican political party that contests local elections in Ireland.
In 2013, he was criticised after referring to local New Ross businesspeople as “snivelling gobshites” in a Facebook post. He made the remark because he felt shopkeepers in the town showed more affection for the American flag on Independence Day than the Irish flag during Easter week.
The Local Government Reform Act 2014 abolished the New Ross Urban District Council, of which Dwyer had been a member for 15 years. That year, he contested the local elections in the New Ross district as an éirígí candidate but was narrowly beaten to the last seat on Wexford County Council by Sinn Féin candidate Oisin O’Connell.
By the 2016 general election, Dwyer had left éirígí and was running as an Independent. During the 2016 general election, he was eliminated after the fifth count, falling behind AAA-PBP candidate Deirdre Wadding and Social Democrats candidate Leonard Kelly. Afterwards, Dwyer stated that “all is not well with the democratic system” after it emerged that several votes had been deemed “invalid” because of a faulty stamping machine. According to him, hundreds of votes were not counted because of the fault. He later told local press that he planned to pursue the matter legally.
In 2019, Dwyer contested the Wexford County Council local elections as an Independent candidate in the New Ross local electoral area. He received 787 first-preference votes (6.72%) and was eliminated on the eighth count with 1,164 votes, narrowly missing the final seat.
Dwyer did not contest the 2020 or 2024 general elections, breaking a pattern of standing in every general election since 2002.
In June 2024, Dwyer stood in the local elections again as an Independent in the New Ross LEA. He was elected on the eighth and final count with 1,015 first-preference votes (8.28%), returning him to Wexford County Council after a ten-year absence.
In June 2025, Dwyer was elected Cathaoirleach, or chairperson, of the New Ross Municipal District. His current party affiliation is Non Party (Independent).
This article is a part of our section on Biographies of Wexford people.