Paul Murphy (Irish politician)

Paul Murphy (born 13 April 1983) is an Irish Socialist Party politician. He was elected as an Teachta Dála (TD) for the Anti-Austerity Alliance at the 2014 Dublin South-West by-election. From 2011 until 2014 he was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Dublin constituency representing the Socialist Party (European United Left–Nordic Green Left).

Murphy grew up in Goatstown, a suburb of Dublin. He attended St. Kilian's German School. His father, Kieran Murphy, was a senior manager at the Irish division of Mars, while an uncle is Michael Murphy, an RTÉ journalist and broadcaster. His family is originally from Castlebar. He studied for the Leaving Certificate at the Dublin Institute of Education before going on to graduate from University College Dublin with a degree in Law in 2004. He joined the Socialist Party in 2001 and in 2003 he unsuccessfully ran for president of the UCD Students' Union. Murphy also has worked in the European Parliament with Joe Higgins as Higgins' political advisor.

A 2008 short film, which describes him as a full-time activist for the Socialist Party, follows his involvement in protests against cutbacks at Tallaght Hospital during the Irish financial crisis. He is also active in Free Education for Everyone, a group campaigning against the reintroduction of fees for third-level education in Ireland. In 2009 he was working on a PhD thesis titled "Does socialist law exist?"

He has been a member of the Socialist Party National Committee since 2001 and the National Executive Committee since 2010.

Murphy replaced Joe Higgins in the European Parliament after Higgins was elected to Dáil Éireann at the 2011 general election. Murphy sat as a full member on the European Parliament Committee on International Trade and as a substitute on the Employment and Social Affairs and Petitions committees. He was also a full member of the South Asia delegation and a substitute on the Central Asia delegation.

In 2011, Murphy participated in Freedom Flotilla II, which attempted to breach Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip. In August 2011, he visited the "No TAV" Italian campaign against the Turin–Lyon high-speed railway. A supporter of the Shell to Sea campaign, in August 2011 he and others were forcibly removed from a protest by Gardaí. A complaint was submitted to the Garda Ombudsman alleging unreasonable use of force. In early November 2011, Murphy was reported to be part of another Gaza flotilla described as a humanitarian mission. Israeli forces boarded the ship on 4 November and imprisoned Murphy and all the other activists on board, with one of them saying this was carried out in a "violent and dangerous" manner. Israel deported Murphy on 11 November.

In 2012, Murphy set up the website ScamBridge.org for people wishing to share their experiences of the government's JobBridge scheme. In June 2013, he travelled to Istanbul to speak with activists participating in the Gezi Park protests.

Murphy stood for re-election at the 2014 European Parliament election, at which he lost his seat. During the campaign he put his election posters on display before the official campaign start date, a move which risked fines of up to €150,000. He said "people wouldn't be bothered" and defended the move as a response to Fianna Fáil candidate Mary Fitzpatrick, who had also put up her posters early. Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council and South Dublin County Council forced him to remove them. During the campaign, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) upheld a complaint against the Irish state broadcaster RTÉ which excluded Murphy from a report on the findings of a Sunday Business Post/Red C opinion poll on a news programme which they aired on 3 May 2014.

Murphy, in a widely circulated image taken as he was arrested

Murphy was elected to Dáil Éireann for the Anti-Austerity Alliance at the 2014 Dublin South-West by-election.

As a TD for the Anti-Austerity Alliance and member of the Socialist Party, Murphy took a leading role in the We Won't Pay campaign, an anti-water charges organisation advocating non-payment. He spoke at many rallies and protests against both the charges and the Fine Gael-Labour coalition government. His role during a protest against Tánaiste Joan Burton in Jobstown, Dublin on 15 November 2014, brought criticism from some quarters after Burton's car was blocked, and she was allegedly unable to leave it for over two hours. Afterwards Murphy distanced himself from the actions of some protesters but defended the right to peaceful protest.

On 9 February 2015, he was arrested by Gardaí at his Dublin home in relation to the Jobstown protest, and taken into custody along with three other anti-austerity activists. He was released without charge that afternoon.

On 12 August 2015, Paul Reynolds reported on RTÉ's Nine O'Clock News bulletin that Murphy and others would be charged and that trials would occur in the Circuit Court, where penalties are harsher, instead of the District Court, where penalties are less severe. On 15 September 2015, Murphy was served a summons by the Gardaí on charges of false imprisonment of Joan Burton and her assistant. A trial date is expected to be set in April 2016.

At the 2016 general election, Murphy was re-elected to Dáil Éireann for the Dublin South-West constituency as a member of the AAA-PBP grouping.