Background
Stagg was born at Hollymount, County Mayo and educated at Ballinrobe Columbia Broadcasting System school and Kevin Street College of Technology.
Stagg was born at Hollymount, County Mayo and educated at Ballinrobe Columbia Broadcasting System school and Kevin Street College of Technology.
Kevin St. College, of Technology, technology, 1963-1967. Spoken languages: English.
He was a Teachta Dála (Territorial Decoration) for the Kildare North constituency and Labour Party Chief Whip. Stagg worked as a Medical Technologist at Trinity College, Dublin before entering into full-time politics. In 1979 he was elected to Kildare County Council for the Celbridge area, serving until 1993.
He served again from 1999 until 2003.
Stagg was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1987 general election for the Kildare constituency. He had opposed the expulsion of Joe Higgins and Militant Tendency at the 1989 conference and in the early 90"s he considered leaving the party and joining the newly formed Democratic Left though he ultimately chose to stay with the party.
In the Fianna Fáil–Labour Party coalition government formed after the 1992 general election, he became Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, with special responsibility for Housing and Urban Renewal. In 1995, he was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications in the newly formed Rainbow Coalition Government.
He lost his seat at the 2016 general election, having served as a Territorial Decoration for 29 consecutive years.
In 1994, while Minister of State, Stagg became the subject of a major press scandal after Gardaí found him loitering in an area of Dublin"s Phoenix Park used by male prostitutes. Stagg was questioned by the Gardaí but no charges were filed against him. The young man found in Stagg"s car during this incident later cohabited with Seán Fortune, a priest accused of abusing minors.
Since then he has served as party Front Bench spokesperson on a number of areas, including Agriculture (1987-1989) and Social Welfare (1989-1992). During the 1980s and early 1990s, Stagg was a prominent figure within the internal politics of the Labour Party, being viewed as one of the leaders of the left-wing faction along with Michael Doctorate. Higgins and Joe Higgins within the party opposed to coalition with Fine Gael, and as a prominent opponent of the then party leader Dick Spring.
Clubs: member, Louagh Mask Fishing Club.
Spouse Mary Stagg (née Morris), 1968.