SENATOR DAVID NORRIS is to retire in January 2024, it has been confirmed. 

The Independent senator has been serving in the Seanad for the last 36 years.

In an interview with Trinity News, Norris said he planned to retire in the new year and move to Cyprus. 

Norris said it was time to pass the “baton to the next generation”.

His retirement will trigger a Seanad by-election for next year. 

It is understood that he will formally announce his retirement from the Seanad when the upper house returns after the Christmas recess.

The gay and civil rights activist revealed in the summer of 2013 that he was receiving treatment for a serious cancer and underwent a liver transplant in June 2014.

The outspoken politician and academic has had a colourful career in Leinster House, most known for his work on overthrowing Ireland’s laws which criminalised homosexuality.

In the 1980s, Norris brought Ireland to the European Commission of Human Rights and later the European Court of Human Rights arguing that the criminal ban on sexual relationships between men violated the European Convention on Human Rights.

In 2011, he was a candidate in the fraught presidential election, topping many opinion polls before withdrawing from the race amid controversy. He returned to the Seanad in September 2011, just weeks out from the vote.

A former university lecturer, Norris has served in the Seanad since 1987, becoming the first openly gay person to be elected to public office.

A number of politicians in Leinster House have wished Norris well in his retirement, with Fianna Fáil senator Malcolm Byrne stating: 

“David Norris has made an outstanding contribution to Irish public life in so many ways. We must acknowledge his work as a Senator in his contribution to legislation and debates, in his tireless campaigning for East Timor and his wonderful advocacy for the works of James Joyce. 

“He will be most associated, however, with the campaign for LGBT rights. In a way that personally benefited me, David’s campaigning for the decriminalisation of homosexuality and for the greater participation of LGBT persons in Irish society, including through marriage equality, truly made a difference in the lives of so many.

“I wish him well on his next Chapter in life and we are all grateful for his service.”

Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, Fine Gael’s Jerry Buttimer said Norris had left a huge legacy.

He said his life and that of the LGBTQ community “is all the better because of your bravery courage and determination. Beir bua’.