Cork TD and former minister for agriculture Michael Creed has announced that he will not stand in the next general election.
The Fine Gael representative for the Cork North-West constituency confirmed at a private party meeting in Cork last night (Monday, April 25) that he would be standing down at the end of the current Dáil term.
The 59-year-old from Macroom is the son of the former TD and minister of state, Donal Creed.
After a spell on Cork County Council, Michael Creed was first elected to Dáil Éireann in 1989 and retained his seat until he lost out in the 2002 general election.
Election
After regaining his Dáil seat at the 2007 general election, he became Fine Gael spokesperson on agriculture, fisheries and food from 2007 to 2010.
Following the 2016 general election and the formation of a minority Fine Gael government, then-Taoiseach Enda Kenny appointed Creed as agriculture minister.
Creed was re-appointed as minister when Leo Varadkar became Taoiseach in June 2017 and remained in the position until June 2020.
Following the formation of the coalition between Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party, Creed was not appointed to Cabinet.
Following last night’s meeting Aileen Browne, Fine Gael constituency chair in Cork North-West said:
“At last night’s Constituency AGM Michael Creed TD announced that he will not be contesting the next general election.
“On behalf of all the members I want to thank Michael for his outstanding contribution to both local and national politics and to wish him and his family the very best of luck.”
The announcement that Michael Creed is to bow out of national politics is the latest blow to the Fine Gael party following previous declarations from John Paul Phelan, Brendan Griffin and Joe McHugh that they would not be contesting the next general election.