Malcolm Byrne

Malcolm Byrne (born 25 April 1974) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who has served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Wicklow–Wexford constituency since the 2024 general election.

[4][7] Byrne has described the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre and the fall of the Berlin Wall as influencing his decision to enter politics.

[6] He was Head of Communications with the Higher Education Authority until 2019, and has been Vice-President of the National Youth Council of Ireland.

"[1] His family and political career suffered as a result and he was not selected for candidacy in the 2007 general election following this incident.

[6] Byrne was a candidate for Fianna Fáil in the 2016 general election in the Wexford constituency, but did not win a seat.

[8][11] He contested the 2019 European Parliament election for Fianna Fail in the South constituency, having unexpectedly beaten Cork TD Billy Kelleher in the vote for the party's nomination.

[17] Andrew Bolger was co-opted to Byrne's seat on Wexford County Council following his election to the Dáil.

[19] Byrne lost his Dáil seat at the next general election, on 8 February 2020,[20][21][22] following what he called "a dirty campaign".

[24] He was named as Fianna Fáil spokesperson on Higher Education, Innovation and Science by Taoiseach Micheál Martin in July 2020.