Fianna Fáil TD for Galway East Noel Treacy has announced he will not be contesting the upcoming general election on medical grounds.
Mr Treacy underwent surgery last summer and is receiving further medical treatment.
He said he was making his decision with a “great sense of regret and reluctance”.
“I do this with a great sense of regret and reluctance as all of the expectations were that the general election would not happen before 2012. I was looking forward to being fully fit by then."
"It would be unfair to the Fianna Fáil Party who have consistently nominated me, and the people of Galway East who have consistently elected me for three decades, to enter an election campaign in which I could not actively participate on a daily basis,” he said.
Mr Treacy was appointed to the Fianna Fáil front bench by Charles Haughey in September 1983.
His announcement comes a day after two other Fianna Fáil TDs, Cork East’s Ned O’Keeffe and Dublin North West’s Noel Ahern, also announced their decision not to contest the election.