Fitzgerald was born in Doon,
County Limerick and educated at the
Christian Brothers school in Doon,
St Patrick's College, Dublin and
University College Dublin. He worked as a teacher before becoming involved in politics. He was elected to
Dáil Éireann at the
1981 general election as a Fianna Fáil TD for the
Dublin North-East constituency. He lost his seat at the
February 1982 election but regained it in the
November 1982 election. In 1991, he was a key member of the so-called "gang of four" that proposed a
motion of no confidence in the
Taoiseach and leader of Fitzgerald's party,
Charles Haughey (the other members of the group were
Noel Dempsey,
Seán Power and
M. J. Nolan). Haughey resigned in early 1992 and
Albert Reynolds became Taoiseach, but Fitzgerald remained on the backbenches. He lost his Dáil seat again at the
1997 general election, but was then elected to the
21st Seanad by the
Labour Panel; he was re-elected in 2002 to the
22nd Seanad. Fitzgerald resigned the party whip on 27 March 2007, and stated his intention to run as an independent candidate in the next general election. It has been said that he did this as a response to the cancellation of the candidate selection convention in Dublin North-East. However, he did not stand at the
2007 general election. Fitzgerald died on 11 June 2025, at the age of 75. ==References==