His son Tim Durkan is a Fine Gael politician having been elected to Kildare County Council in 2014 for the Maynooth electoral area.

During his career as a member of Dáil Éireann, he has held several Front Bench portfolios in Fine Gael, including Health, Food, Trade and Industry, Insurance, Overseas Development Aid and Human Rights, and Communications and Natural Resources.

He has also previously acted as the chairman on the Oireachtas Committee of European Affairs and a member of the Eastern Health Board.

In 2010, Durkan refused to defer the drawing of his ministerial pension while still being paid as a TD.

[4] In 2023, Durkan called for an inquiry into the usage of parental alienation in family law cases, which he described as a "pseudo-condition".