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David Cullinane

Irish politician

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ5232711 ↗
Source-derived summary

David Cullinane (born 4 July 1974) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Waterford constituency since the 2016 general election. He previously served as a Senator for the Labour Panel from 2011 to 2016.

Personal life

Cullinane was born in Waterford in 1974. He was married to Kathleen Funchion, who is a Sinn Féin MEP for South.

Political career

He was elected to Waterford City Council at the 2004 local elections and retained his seat at the 2009 local elections.

He became a member of Seanad Éireann in May 2011, as a senator for the Labour Panel. The Irish Times described him in the Seanad as "a frequent, informed and often abrasive contributor across a wide range of areas, with a keen attention to the nuances of legislation".

He unsuccessfully contested the Waterford constituency at the 2002, 2007 and 2011 general elections, before winning a seat in 2016. He was re-elected in 2020, when his 20,596 first preference votes amounted to 1.95 quotas, and was the highest ever recorded in the constituency's history.

Cullinane drew criticism on election night when a 30-second video uploaded to Twitter showed him ending his election victory speech with the phrases "up the Republic, Up the 'Ra and Tiocfaidh ár lá".

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “David Cullinane” as irish politician. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around David, Cullinane and Irish.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1974, 2016, 2011, 2004—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1974-07-04. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with David, Cullinane and Irish providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “David Cullinane”, the useful work is to connect “irish politician” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5232711. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1974, 2016, 2011 and 2004.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “David Cullinane”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow David Cullinane primary sources, David Cullinane archive and David research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “David Cullinane” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.