Paul Nicholas Gogarty (born 20 December 1968) is an Irish Independent politician who has served as a South Dublin County Councillor for Lucan since May 2014. He was previously a member of the Green Party, and served as a Green Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Mid-West constituency from 2002 to 2011. He is also a musical performer. Gogarty contested the 2016 general election as part of the Independent Alliance, but was not elected. Political career Early local politics Gogarty joined the Green Party in 1989 as a student. He ran unsuccessfully in the 1991 local elections for Fingal County Council. He was first elected at the 1999 local elections for the Lucan local electoral area of South Dublin County Council. Dáil Éireann Gogarty previously contested the 1992 and 1997 general elections in the Dublin West constituency. He also ran at the 1996 Dublin West by-election caused by the death of Brian Lenihan Snr. At the 2002 general election, he was elected to the Dáil for the new Dublin Mid-West constituency. He was the first Green Party member to be elected in a three-seat constituency. After his election, Gogarty gave up his local council seat, in line with Green Party policy against dual-mandate and was succeeded by the late Fintan McCarthy. At the 2007 general election, he retained his Dáil seat, taking the second seat in the enlarged constituency. Following the Green Party's entry to government in 2007, Gogarty was appointed Chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Education and Science. In 2002, 2003 and again in 2008, Gogarty called for the pay of members of the Oireachtas to be cut. In November 2003, he described the decision to raise TDs pay by 13% during the Celtic Tiger era, compared with 6% for pensioners and social welfare recipients as a "urination" on the less well off in society. On 3 August 2010, Gogarty wrote to the Clerk of the Seanad asking that newspaper claims alleging that Senator Ivor Callely had supplied phone expenses claims on headed paper belonging to a company which no longer existed be investigated. Gogarty appeared on the RTÉ Joe Duffy radio show discussing this issue. He went to Lucan Garda station the next day and requested an investigation. In November 2010, he brought his 18-month-old daughter to a Green Party press conference. The following day, many callers to a radio show criticised his decision. He responded that