Dáil Éireann Briscoe was elected to
Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil TD for the
Dublin South-West constituency at the
1965 general election, succeeding his father
Robert Briscoe who had been a TD for 38 years. He was elected at the
1969 general election for
Dublin South-Central, where he was reelected in
1973 and after major boundary changes for the
1977 general election he was elected for the
Dublin Rathmines West constituency. A subsequent boundary revision in advance of the
1981 general election abolished Dublin Rathmines West and divided the area between the neighbouring constituencies. Briscoe was reelected for the reestablished Dublin South-Central constituency which he held until he retired at the
2002 general election. Briscoe was very critical of the
cult of personality surrounding Fianna Fáil leader
Charles Haughey during the 1980s, which Briscoe once compared to a "Fascist Dictatorship". Briscoe accordingly helped lead the discontented anti-Haughey faction within Fianna Fáil, which included
Charlie McCreevy, during Haughey's time as
Taoiseach. At the
1992 general election, Briscoe was involved in a marathon recount battle with
Democratic Left's
Eric Byrne to decide the fate of the final seat in Dublin South-Central. Briscoe was declared the victor after ten days of recounting and rechecking ballot papers, leading to Briscoe describing the long count as being like "the agony and the ex-TD."
Lord Mayor of Dublin From 1988 to 1989, he served as
Lord Mayor of Dublin, a post previously held by his father, Robert. His term covered the second half of Dublin's Millennium Year 1988. After the city council had made him Lord Mayor, Briscoe described his selection for the honour as "one of the proudest moments of my life". The
Molly Malone statue previously at the bottom end of
Grafton Street and now outside the Dublin Tourist around the corner was unveiled by Briscoe during the
Dublin Millennium celebrations in 1988 and he declared 13 June as Molly Malone Day in
Dublin. ==Personal life==