16 Facts About Emmet Stagg

Emmet Stagg was an Irish Labour Party politician who served as Labour Party Chief Whip from 2007 to 2016, and as a Minister of State from January 1993 to November 1994 and from December 1994 to June 1997.

Emmet Stagg served as a Teachta Dala from 1987 to 2016.

Emmet Stagg was educated at Ballinrobe CBS school and Kevin Street College of Technology.

Emmet Stagg worked as a medical technologist at Trinity College Dublin before entering full-time politics.

Emmet Stagg was elected in 1979 to represent the Celbridge area on Kildare County Council for the Labour Party, serving until 1993.

Emmet Stagg was elected again in 1999, serving until 2003.

Emmet Stagg was first elected to Dail Eireann at the 1987 general election for the Kildare constituency.

Emmet Stagg then served as Labour front bench spokesperson in various portfolios, including Agriculture and Social Welfare.

Emmet Stagg opposed the expulsion of Joe Higgins and Militant Tendency at the 1989 conference, and in the early 1990s he considered leaving the party and joining the newly formed Democratic Left, though he ultimately chose to stay with the party.

In December 1994, in the Rainbow coalition government, Emmet Stagg was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications, serving until June 1997.

Emmet Stagg lost his seat at the 2016 general election, having served as a TD for 29 consecutive years.

Emmet Stagg was the Labour Party candidate for Kildare North at the 2020 general election.

In 1994, while Minister of State, Emmet Stagg became the subject of a major press scandal after gardai had found him the previous November loitering in an area of Dublin's Phoenix Park used by male prostitutes.

Emmet Stagg was questioned by the gardai but no charges were filed against him.

Emmet Stagg's brother Frank Stagg was a Provisional Irish Republican Army member, who died in a British prison in 1976 while on hunger strike.

Emmet Stagg died on 17 March 2024, following a long illness.