Name: Michael W. D’Arcy.
Category: Politician.
Date of Birth: 26 February 1970.
Bio
Michael W. D’Arcy is a former Fine Gael politician and dairy farmer from Gorey in County Wexford. He is the son of the late Michael D’Arcy, who retired as a Fine Gael TD in 2009 and died on 1 May 2024.
D’Arcy attended Ballythomas National School, Gorey Christian Brothers, and the University of London. In 1992, he won an All-Ireland junior football title with County Wexford after the team defeated County Cork 1-09 to 0-11.
He first entered politics in December 2003, when Fine Gael co-opted him to Wexford County Council for the Gorey area to replace his father after the Local Government Act 2001 abolished the dual mandate. In June 2004, he contested the local elections for the Gorey electoral area and took the first seat on count six, having secured 1,952 first preference votes.
Between 2004 and 2007, D’Arcy served as chairman of County Wexford Vocational Education Committee.
In the May 2007 general election, he took the fifth and final seat in the Wexford constituency after defeating Fianna Fáil candidate Lisa McDonald on count seven. D’Arcy received an 11.2% share of first preference votes. During his term in the 30th Dáil, he served as deputy spokesperson on Justice with special responsibility for Equality.
In the 2011 general election, D’Arcy narrowly missed retaining his seat after the final count eliminated him, losing out to party colleagues Paul Kehoe and Liam Twomey. He received 11.1% of first preference votes, a small 0.1% drop from his previous election campaign. His loss surprised many at the time, as Fine Gael were performing well in the polls. He was also the only candidate from the north of County Wexford to contest the election. A post-election analysis concluded that Mick Wallace’s decision to enter the race had hurt D’Arcy’s chances.
Following the loss of his seat, D’Arcy won election to the Administrative Panel of Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Oireachtas. During this term, he served as the Fine Gael Seanad spokesperson on Finance.
In the February 2016 general election, D’Arcy reclaimed his Dáil seat, winning the fourth seat during the 2016 General Election in Wexford, having received 7,798 first preference votes (10.9%).
He served as Minister of State at the Department of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform with special responsibility for Financial Services and Insurance from June 2017 until the 2020 general election. D’Arcy lost his Dáil seat at the 2020 general election but won a seat in Seanad Éireann on the Agricultural Panel in April 2020. He resigned from the Seanad in September 2020 to become chief executive of the Irish Association of Investment Management.
This article is a part of our section on Biographies of Wexford people.