RICHARD Boyd Barrett yesterday confirmed he will temporarily step back from politics following a throat cancer diagnosis.
The People Before Profit leader vowed to be back “as soon as possible” but admitted that his treatment, which said will be “fairly intense”, is expected to take at least a couple of months.
Speaking on RTE’s Today with Claire Byrne, the Dublin politician said he wanted to make sure those who voted for People Before Profit “deserve to know” if he’s not around.
Richard explained: “I wanted to explain it because if I just disappeared, people, the constituents who elected me, would be wondering where I’m gone, so I wanted to do them the service of telling them.”
He added the cancer had been caught early and that doctors believe he has a “good chance”.
Richard said: “It’s been caught relatively early because it was in my tonsils, it’s gone to my lymph nodes but no further, so I have to get radio[therapy] and chemotherapy, and they say the chances of that working are about eight or nine out of ten, which is good.
“But obviously you could be unlucky, and be the one in ten or the two in ten that it doesn’t work for, so you have to throw everything at it.”
He first noticed swelling while shaving during the General Election last year and had a biopsy taken and his tonsils removed.
The TD was reelected to the Dail in the final count of the Irish General Election in November after becoming leader of PBP in October 2024.
He is the party’s spokesperson on Housing and Finance.
And, after Richard confirmed that his constituency office in Dun Laoighaire will remain open as he temporarily steps away, we have outlined everything we know about the TD.
EARLIER POLITICAL CAREER
Boyd Barrett first stood for election in the Dun Laoighaire constituency for the 2002 election as a member of the Socialist Workers Party.
He then contested the 2004 local elections for Dun Laoighaire Rathdown County Council and was not successful.
In 2007, Barrett ran for Dail election again as a People Before Profit candidate with the support of his birth mother Sinead Cusack – this attempt was unsuccessful.
Barrett was then elected to Dun Laoighaire-Rathdown County Council in 2009, winning 22.8 per cent of the vote.
This was later followed by success in the 2011 general election under the United Left Alliance Banner, but still on the ballot as a PBP candidate.
He was reelected in 2020’s General Election after topping the polls.
Boyd Barrett has been involved in campaigns against bin and water charges, privatisation of hospitals and support of the Rossport Five and also organised mass protests against the war in Iraq in 2003.
He is the chair of the Irish Anti-War movement and has been vocal in his support for Palestine, taking part in some protests calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
WHAT IS HIS UPBRINGING?
Richard Boyd Barrett was born on February 6, 1967.
He was adopted as a baby and raised by David Boyd Barrett, an accountant, and Valerie Boyd Barrett, a hairdresser, in Glenageary in Dun Laoighaire, Co Dublin.
He attended St Michael’s College in Dublin for his schooling and later went on to receive a master’s degree in English Literature from University College Dublin.
WHO ARE HIS BIRTH PARENTS?
Richard Boyd Barrett’s birth mother is renowned actress Sinead Cusack, of the Cusack family dynasty.
Sinead gave birth to Barrett when she was 20-years-old and had just begun her acting career in the Abbey theatre following in the footsteps of her legendary father Cyril.
Cusack went on to have a tenured career on stage and screen, receiving two Tony Award nominations and five Olivier Award nominations.
His birth father is the iconic Irish actor and director Vincent Dowling, who passed away in 2013.
Dowling was 19 years Cusack’s senior when they had a brief relationship.
He was also a member of the Abbey Theatre company and he had a stint as the Abbey Theatre’s artistic director in the late 80s.
He emigrated to Ohio in the US and is also credited for discovering Tom Hanks.
It was revealed by Boyd Barrett that Cusack was his birth mother in 2007, the two had reunited and Cusack had been a vocal supporter of the Anti War movement, which Barrett was a part of.
Dowling was revealed as Boyd Barrett’s birth father in 2013.
HEARTBREAKING LOSS
The TD has openly spoken about losing his daughter Ella.
He spoke bravely about his little girl before the Repeal the 8th referendum in Ireland.
When he and his wife were expecting Ella was diagnosed with birth defects “incompatible with life”.
He addressed the Dail in 2015 when Independent TD Clare Daly proposed amendment to the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Act that would allow abortions in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities.
He said: “It was a beautiful spring day exactly like today when we had to bury her. Myself, her mother and her two brothers think about her every day.
“We have a tree, which a friend of ours kindly gave us at the time, planted on Killiney Hill to remind us of her and we go up there every year to remember her and think about how she might still be here.”
Supporting the amendment at the time he said Ella was “desperately wanted” and they sought multiple opinions on her diagnosis “but there was no doubt about it”.
