Tom Morrissey
Tom Morrissey (born July 1956) is a former Irish politician and member of Seanad Éireann and businessman. He was nominated by the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern to the 22nd Seanad in 2002 as a member of the now defunct Progressive Democrats. He was subsequently appointed to the Progressive Democrats Front Bench as Transportation Spokesman in September 2002. During his time as a Senator, Morrissey was involved in a wide variety of parliamentary activities and served on the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport. He also served as Chairman of the Progressive Democrats Parliamentary Party. He was a key figure in drawing up the Party's New Heart For Dublin discussion paper.
Morrissey was first elected as a Fine Gael representative for the Castleknock ward in the 1991 local election with 1,172 votes which translated into a large 15.77% of the vote. He was an unsuccessful Dáil candidate for Fine Gael in Dublin West in the 1992 general election and 1996 by-election receiving 1,179 (3.17%) and 3,728 (13.12%) votes respectively. He then joined the Progressive Democrats and was unsuccessful in the 1997 and 2002 general elections in Dublin West. He received 7.61% in 1997 and 7.9% in 2002. His second successful local election was in 1999 when he was elected as a Progressive Democrat member for Fingal County Council, again in the Castleknock ward receiving 1,218, a 14.13% share of the vote. Following his appointment to Seanad Éireann in 2002, his County Council seat was filled by Jon Rainey.
In 2006 he decided to run as a candidate in the 2007 general election for the Dublin North constituency. He failed to be returned having received only 1,355 votes (2.55%). His support for the privatisation of Aer Lingus may have been a factor on that occasion. In the same year, he also failed in his candidacy for Seanad Éireann.