John Halligan

Who is John Halligan?

John Halligan is an Irish independent politician. He was elected as a Teachta Dála for the Waterford constituency at the 2011 general election. He was first elected to the Waterford City Council in 1999 for the Workers' Party of Ireland.

At the 2004 local elections he topped the poll in Waterford No. 3 electoral area. In February 2008 he resigned from the Workers' Party when the party refused to drop its opposition to service charges, which Halligan supported. In 2009, as an independent candidate, Halligan again topped the poll in his area. After the 2009 elections, Halligan entered into a pact with the Labour Party and Fine Gael on Waterford City Council and was duly elected Mayor of Waterford city serving from 2009–10. He was an unsuccessful Workers' Party candidate for the Waterford constituency at the 2002 and 2007 general elections.

He was elected as TD for Waterford at the 2011 general election receiving 5,546 first preference votes and was elected on the 11th count.

Following his election to the Dáil in February 2011, Sean Reinhardt was co-opted to replace Halligan on Waterford City Council.

In March 2011 Halligan joined the Dáil Technical group which gives independents and minor parties more speaking time in Dáil debates.