Michael Mcdowell

Michael McDowell (Mícheál Mac Dubhghaill; born 1 May 1951 in Dublin, Ireland) is a senior counsel in the Bar Council of Ireland and a former politician. A grandson of Irish revolutionary Eoin MacNeill, McDowell was a founding member of the Progressive Democrats political party in the mid-1980s. On three occasions he was elected as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin South East constituency, serving in the 25th Dáil (1987–89), the 27th Dáil (1992–97), and the 29th Dáil (2002–07). He lost his Dáil seat in the general elections of 1989, 1997, and 2007.McDowell has also served as Attorney General of Ireland (1999–2002), as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (2002–07), as leader of the Progressive Democrats (2006–07), and as Tánaiste (2006–07). After his party's poor performance in the 2007 general election, in which it lost six of its eight seats in Dáil Éireann, including his own, McDowell resigned as party leader and announced his retirement from public life. ... more