Fine Gael TD John Deasy has announced his intention to retire from politics before the next general election.

Deputy Deasy was elected to the Dáil in 2002 and is the Government's special envoy to Washington.

He has been a member of Fine Gael for 30 years.

US envoy

This morning, the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar thanked him for three decades of service to the party.

"John has done stunningly effective work as my envoy to Capitol Hill, informing Congress about the impact Brexit could have on Ireland and campaigning for immigration reform for Irish citizens," he said.

"That work will continue for the duration of this Government and hopefully beyond."

Waterford split

Deputy Deasy's seat has been the subject of controversy in recent months after internal tensions within the Waterford branch of Fine Gael led to a vote of no confidence in him.

His rivals claimed he has not been working for the county in recent years - particularly since taking up his US role.

Deputy Deasy claimed the local branch of the party has had a longstanding bullying issue and noted that his own supporters stopped attending similar meetings years ago.

Mr Varadkar said Fine Gael has polled ahead of any other party in Waterford in recent general and local elections - and will run two candidates next time around.

The party is now looking for someone to run alongside Senator Paudie Coffey.

John Deasy

Deputy Deasy was first elected to the Dáil in 2002 - following in the footsteps of his father, former Minister for Agriculture Minister Austin Deasy.

He was sacked from the Fine Gael front bench in 2004, for smoking in the Dáil bar just days after the smoking ban came into force.

He was appointed special envoy to the US in July 2017.