Peadar Tóibín
TD
Tóibín in 2019
Leader of Aontú
Assumed office
28 January 2019
Preceded byNew office
Chair of the Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs
In office
4 April 2016 – 15 November 2018
Preceded byNew office
Succeeded byAengus Ó Snodaigh
Teachta Dála
Assumed office
February 2011
ConstituencyMeath West
Personal details
Born (1974-06-19) 19 June 1974
Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland
Political partyAontú (since 2019)
Other political
affiliations
SpouseDeirdre Tóibín
Children4
Alma materUniversity College Dublin

Peadar Tóibín (Irish pronunciation: [ˈpʲad̪ˠəɾˠ t̪ˠoːˈbʲiːnʲ]; born 19 June 1974) is an Irish politician who has served as Leader of Aontú since January 2019. He has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Meath West constituency since 2011. He previously served as Chair of the Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs from 2016 to 2018.[1][2] He founded Aontú in January 2019.[3]

He was elected as a Sinn Féin candidate in 2011, but resigned from the party on 15 November 2018, primarily due to his opposition to the party's stance on abortion.

Political career

While studying in University College Dublin, Tóibín was a member of Fianna Fáil and an active member of the UCD branch, the Kevin Barry Cumann.[4][5] He joined Sinn Féin in 1998.[4][5] Speaking in 2023, Tóibín commentated on his departure from Fianna Fáil by saying "I felt that Fianna Fáil had good people within them, but a lot of the people in Fianna Fáil were career ambitious for themselves and the ideology and the objectives were secondary or weren’t as important".[4]

Sinn Féin (2004–2018)

Peadar Tóibín constituency office in Navan, County Meath

At the 2004 local elections, he stood unsuccessfully for Navan Town Council, and for the Navan local electoral area of Meath County Council.[2] He was co-opted onto Navan Town Council in November 2007, and held that seat at the 2009 local elections, when he was again unsuccessful in the county council election.[2]

Tóibín was suspended from the Sinn Féin parliamentary party for six months in July 2013, when he defied the party whip by voting against the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013.[6]

He called for a 'No' vote in the 2018 Referendum on the Eighth Amendment. He and his party colleague Carol Nolan, who had been suspended from Sinn Féin for voting against policy on the abortion issue, were the only representatives from the party to attend a photocall in Merrion Square in Dublin to publicise the 'No' campaign.[7]

Tóibín was again suspended from the Sinn Féin parliamentary party for six months in October 2018, when he defied the party whip by voting against the Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy Bill 2018.[8]

On 15 November 2018, Tóibín announced his resignation from Sinn Féin, saying that restrictions imposed on him by the party over his views on abortion had "prevented me from fully representing my constituents".[9]

Aontú (2019–present)

After resigning from Sinn Féin in November 2018, Tóibín announced that he would attempt to establish an alternative political party.[10] On 28 January 2019, he announced that the name of his new political party would be Aontú, Irish for "unity and consent".[3]

At the 2020 general election, Tóibín retained his seat in Meath West with 7,322 first-preference votes, or 17.6%, taking the second of the constituency's three seats.[11][12]

In February 2022, Tóibín used parliamentary privilege to name Soldier F, a soldier accused of murdering two people on Bloody Sunday. This was the first time the soldier had been identified in the Dáil.[13] He had previously been identified by name in the British parliament,[14] and in Village magazine in Ireland.[15]

Political views

The Phoenix has described Tóibín's overall political identity as appealing to "the more socially conservative of nationalist voters",[5] while Gerald Howlin of the Irish Examiner has likened Tóibín's overall political identity to the Sinn Féin of the 1970s under Ruairí Ó Brádaigh's leadership.[16] Tóibín has self-described Aontú as socially conservative but centre-left economically.[17][18]

Tóibín's most well-known political position is his anti-abortion stance, which ultimately caused his departure from Sinn Féin.[5] Sinn Féin allowed Tóibín to campaign for a No vote during the 2018 Irish referendum on abortion, provided that he would accept the party whip on subsequent votes relating to abortion. However, alongside Carol Nolan, he broke ranks and continued to vote against law reforms regarding to abortion in the Dáil.[5] This led to multiple suspensions and proved to become an untenable situation. Once Tóibín formed Aontú, it was generally agreed that the party was broadly anti-abortion in nature.[5]

Tóibín and Aontú have been described as possessing a "strong rightward stance" on immigration,[5] with Tóibín's rhetoric on the topic characterised as "Nativist".[16] In 2019, Tóibín stated that there was "growing unease and concern among many people in Ireland around the issue of immigration".[16] Tóibín has also stated that "genuine" asylum seekers must be properly looked but that "asylum seekers cannot be treated better than our own people".[5] Additionally, Tóibín has stated that if asylum seekers can be placed in modular homes, so too can homeless Irish people.[5]

In December 2022 Tóibín stated that "Sinn Féin is morphing into Fianna Fáil. It will go any direction if feels necessary to get votes" while also commentating that "Other political parties are distracted by virtue-signalling on the latest woke fashion. Aontú is different."[19] Tóibín stated that Aontú would not enter government with Fine Gael "under any circumstances".[19]

Personal life

Tóibín is a business consultant. He is married to Deirdre Tóibín; and they have four children.[20] He was the Chairperson of the Save Navan Hospital Campaign. He has a degree in Economics and Politics from University College Dublin (UCD) and a postgraduate degree in enterprise from the Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School.[21]

Tóibín was diagnosed with skin cancer in 2021.[22]

References

  1. ↑ "Peadar Tóibín". Oireachtas Members Database. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 "Peadar Tóibín". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 1 March 2011.
  3. 1 2 Lehane, Mícheál (28 January 2019). "Tóibín reveals name of new political party". RTÉ News. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 Jones, Ruadhán (17 December 2020). "'It's important that faith can have full and clear expression in the public forum' – Peadar Tóibín". The Irish Catholic. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Profile: Peadar Tóibín". The Phoenix. 14 July 2023. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  6. ↑ "Peadar Toibín suspended from Sinn Féin for six months". TheJournal.ie. 12 July 2013.
  7. ↑ "Cross-party group of politicians calls for No vote in referendum". The Irish Times. 16 May 2018.
  8. ↑ "Peadar Toibín suspended from Sinn Féin over abortion law vote". The Irish Times. 1 November 2018.
  9. ↑ "Peadar Tóibín announces resignation from Sinn Féin". Irish Examiner. 15 November 2018. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  10. ↑ "Peadar Tóibín to travel the country with aim to establish new political party". IrishExaminer.com. 15 November 2018.
  11. ↑ Walsh, Louise (10 February 2020) [9 February 2020]. "Meath West results: Surprise at Fianna Fáil loss as seismic shift to left". The Irish Times. Dublin. Archived from the original on 9 June 2021. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  12. ↑ "Election 2020: Meath West". The Irish Times. Dublin. 10 February 2020. Archived from the original on 9 June 2021. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  13. ↑ Burns, Sarah (9 February 2022). "Soldier F accused of murder on Bloody Sunday named in Dáil". The Irish Times. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  14. ↑ "Armed Forces Bill". Hansard. 13 July 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  15. ↑ "Lying like a trooper. Internment, murder and vilification. Did Brigadier Kitson instigate the Ballymurphy massacre smear campaign? Where was Soldier F and his 'gallant' death squad during it?". Village. 6 August 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  16. 1 2 3 Howlin, Gerald (10 April 2019). "New politics of nativism is just the bitter defence of a few bleak acres". The Irish Examiner. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  17. ↑ Casey, Ann (16 May 2022). "Tóibín targeting council seats after 'successful' NI election campaign". Meath Chronicle. Retrieved 14 July 2023. Deputy Tóibín said Aontú is left of centre economically and socially conservative
  18. ↑ Hugh Linehan (18 January 2023). "Peadar Toibin on Aontú, Sinn Féin, immigration and ambition". Inside Politics (Podcast). Irish Times. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  19. 1 2 Molony, Senan (29 December 2012). "Sinn Féin 'considering government with Fine Gael', claims Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín". Irish Independent. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  20. ↑ "Peadar Tóibín (Sinn Fein)". Meath Chronicle. 21 February 2016. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  21. ↑ "Election 2020: Peadar Tóibín (Aontu)". The Irish Times. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  22. ↑ "Meath TD urges people to cover-up after skin cancer scare". The Irish Times. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
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