[1] He was elected to that position on 17 May 2008 at the party's Annual Conference and retired in 2014.
Finnegan is originally from near Bailieborough, County Cavan, but has spent most of his life in Dublin.
He worked for many years in the construction industry in both Great Britain and Ireland and was a shop steward in the Dublin Construction Branch of the then Irish Transport and General Workers Union (now SIPTU), before becoming a full-time branch official.
[citation needed] Finnegan was for many years the Workers' Party director of elections in Dublin West on behalf of then party President Tomás Mac Giolla.
Finnegan also unsuccessfully contested the 1999 Irish local elections, polling 3.4% of the vote and the 2009 local elections in the Lucan electoral area, polling 4.6% of the vote.