Name: George Lawlor.
Category: Politician.
George Lawlor is a Labour Party politician from Wexford Town. He has served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Wexford constituency since November 2024. He served as a councillor on Wexford County Council from 2004 until his election as a TD.
Outside politics, Lawlor is a member of the Wexford Light Opera Society and Sarsfield GAA club. He was the director of a print company called Impression Print for 22 years before selling the business in September 2017. He now works full-time as a public representative.
In the 2004 local elections, Lawlor became the youngest member of Wexford Borough Council, winning seat 7 of 12 after count 11 with 448 first-preference votes (6.44%).
On 25 June 2007, he was elected Mayor of Wexford Borough Council, a title his late grandfather Eddie Hall held during the 1950s. His Labour colleague Joe Ryan was elected Deputy Mayor.
In the June 2009 local elections, Lawlor won a seat on both Wexford Borough Council and Wexford County Council. He topped the poll in the Wexford Electoral Area for the county council with 2,210 first-preference votes (11.66%) and achieved the same result in the borough council election.
In June 2010, he was elected Deputy Mayor of Wexford Borough Council. He was again elected Mayor of the council in 2013.
Between 2011 and 2014, Labour’s support fell sharply as the party was part of a Fine Gael-led coalition government that implemented several unpopular austerity policies. Despite his party’s low poll numbers, Lawlor retained his seat on Wexford County Council, winning after the first count with 1,582 first-preference votes (9.9%).
The Local Government Reform Act 2014 abolished town councils such as Wexford Borough Council. As a result, Lawlor was the last person to hold the position of Mayor of Wexford Borough Council. In June 2014, he was elected Mayor of the new Wexford Borough District, a position he held until June 2015, when Independent candidate Ger Carthy took over.
In the November 2019 Wexford by-election, Lawlor ran as the Labour candidate. He received 8,024 first-preference votes (20.0%) and was eliminated on the fifth count, finishing second with 14,476 votes. Fianna Fáil candidate Malcolm Byrne won the by-election. Lawlor was re-elected to Wexford County Council in 2019.
He was re-elected to Wexford County Council in June 2024 and was subsequently elected Mayor of Wexford Borough District for the fifth time. In November 2024, he contested the Irish general election and secured the final seat, finishing ahead of Fine Gael candidate Cathal Byrne. Following his election to Dáil Éireann, he stepped down from his role as mayor and councillor.
This article is a part of our section on Biographies of Wexford people.