About Paul Murphy TD

Paul Murphy lives in Kingswood Heights in Tallaght. He was elected to represent Dublin South West in a by-election in October 2014 on the basis of his firm opposition to water charges.

Alongside 27 other activists, he was charged with the False Imprisonment of Joan Burton at a water charges protest in 2014. The #JobstownNotGuilty campaign was victorious in the courts with the first 7 defendants being found not guilty, the attack on the right to protest being defeated and the trumped up charges against all the other activists being dismissed.

As well as building the boycott against water charges, he has organised for action on the housing crisis including assisting local residents in a battle with a vulture fund which was attempting to evict them.

He campaigned for a Yes vote in the Marriage Equality referendum and in the historic referendum for the Repeal of the 8th Amendment.

He was previously a Member of the European Parliament, where he was a lead campaigner against TTIP (the new EU-US Free Trade Agreement) and the Austerity Treaty. He was imprisoned in Israel for taking part in the Freedom Flotilla which sought to break the blockade of Gaza.

Before becoming an MEP, Paul was a socialist activist in Ireland - organising in Dublin South-West against the bin charges, participating in the Shell2Sea campaign in Rossport, organising against the re-introduction of full third level fees, and helping to build the anti-war movement in 2003.

Paul is a workers’ representative on a worker’s wage - he doesn’t personally accept the full salary of a TD. Instead, he takes a worker’s wage and the remainder is used to assist and support local and national campaigns and groups.