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 was also a member of 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. The council co-opted him, a fellow Democratic Left member, into the vacant seat on Wexford Borough Council.

The Democratic Left merged with the Labour Party in 1999. Hynes contested the 1999 Town Council elections as a Labour candidate and won a seat on Wexford Borough Council with 267 first-preference votes (4.12%), securing seat 9 of 12 after the final count.

He reclaimed his seat on Wexford Borough Council in 2004 after securing election on the final count. During the same local elections, he attempted to win a seat on Wexford County Council but fell short and did not advance past the third count. In summer 2004, he was elected 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 it 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, requiring Hynes to run for Wexford County Council if he wanted to remain in office. He contested the local elections that year as an Independent and won a seat with 614 votes after the final count.

Hynes retained his seat as an Independent in the 2019 local elections, receiving 756 first-preference votes (7.02%) in the Wexford local electoral area.

He joined Sinn Féin in December 2022 after the party’s Ard Oifig approved his membership, which he had applied for the previous month.

His political career ended in June 2024 when he lost his seat in the Wexford Borough District, having been eliminated on the ninth count.