Retiring TD Marc MacSharry said he hoped people would remember him as someone who did the best he could. 

First was elected to Seanad Éireann under the Fianna Fáil banner in 2002, he served three terms in the upper house. 

In 2016, he secured a seat in Sligo-Leitrim for the party and was re-elected in 2020. 

Now, after more than two decades in politics, Deputy MacSharry believes it is an “appropriate time” to quit politics. 

“Sometimes it’s very hard in public life to select the appropriate time and often some leave it a little bit too late and then don’t control their own destiny in terms of the timing of the exit and so on,” he told The Pat Kenny Show. 

Deputy MacSharry said he particularly enjoyed helping his constituents and hoped they knew how hard he had worked for them. 

“If one was looking for a legacy, the only one that interests me is if people could acknowledge, ‘Here’s a guy who did the best he could while he was there and had the wisdom to know when it was time to close that chapter and move onto other opportunities,’” he said. 

Leaving Fianna Fáil

In 2022, Deputy MacSharry quit Fianna Fáil and now sits as an independent; he maintains he could have won his seat again without the help of his former party. 

 “Those matters boil down to issues of consistency, integrity and principle,” he said. 

“I’ve no regrets in terms of resigning the whip or, indeed, having resigned from the party. 

“That was the particular path my political journey had to take. 

“I diverged from the practice within the leadership of Fianna Fáil and I’ve no regrets in that regard.” 

The next election has to be held by 2025 at the latest. 

Main image: Marc McSharry. Image: OireachtasTV