Name: David Hynes.
Category: Politician.
Bio
David Hynes is a former local politician from Wexford Town who served on both Wexford Borough Council and Wexford County Council over a 27-year career. He also served on the South East Regional Drug Task Force.
Hynes began his political journey through the trade union movement. While working at Wexford Electronix in Wexford Town, he became a shop steward with the AEEU in Ireland.
He started his political career as a councillor for the Democratic Left, a democratic socialist party formed in 1992 following a split in the Workers’ Party of Ireland.
Hynes entered local politics in 1997 after Wexford Democratic Left politician Michael Enright died in a two-car accident near Arklow in County Wicklow. As a result of Enright’s death, the council co-opted Hynes, a fellow Democratic Left member, into his seat on Wexford Borough Council.
The Democratic Left merged with the Labour Party in 1999, and Hynes contested the 1999 Town Council elections as a Labour candidate. He won a seat on Wexford Borough Council with 267 first-preference votes (4.12%), securing seat 9 of 12 after the final count.
Hynes reclaimed his seat on Wexford Borough Council in 2004 after securing election on the final count. During the same local elections, he also attempted to win a seat on Wexford County Council but fell short and did not advance past the third count. In summer 2004, he won election as Mayor of Wexford for the first time.
Following the 2009 Town Council elections, Hynes won re-election to Wexford Borough Council but did not contest a County Council seat. In June 2011, he secured a second term as Mayor of Wexford, succeeding his party colleague Joe Ryan.
Hynes announced he was quitting Labour in January 2013 in protest at the policies the party had implemented while in government. He claimed the party had lost its way and turned its back on the people it was supposed to represent. Wexford TD and Labour Minister Brendan Howlin said he was “saddened” to learn of Hynes’ resignation.
Town councils including Wexford Borough Council were abolished in 2014, meaning Hynes had to run for Wexford County Council if he wished to continue as a councillor. In the 2014 local elections, he ran as an Independent candidate and won a seat on Wexford County Council with 614 votes after the final count.
Hynes won re-election as an Independent in the 2019 local elections, receiving 756 first-preference votes (7.02%) in the Wexford local electoral area.
Hynes joined Sinn Féin in December 2022. The party’s Ard Oifig approved his membership after he applied the previous month.
Hynes lost his seat in the Wexford Borough District in June 2024 after being eliminated on the ninth count, ending his 27-year political career.
This article is a part of our section on Biographies of Wexford people.