Editing Brendan Howlin (section)

===Early years (1982–1993)===
Howlin contested his first general election at the [[November 1982 Irish general election|November 1982 election]]. He ran as a Labour candidate in the [[Wexford (Dáil constituency)|Wexford]] constituency, but despite the existence of a large left-wing vote in the area, Howlin was not elected.<ref name=elecs_irl>{{cite web|url=http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=3568|title=Brendan Howlin|work=ElectionsIreland.org|access-date=9 January 2007|archive-date=4 September 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060904085022/http://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?id=3568|url-status=live}}</ref> Despite this setback, a [[Fine Gael]]-Labour Party coalition government came to power and he was [[Nominated members of Seanad Éireann|nominated by the Taoiseach]] [[Garret FitzGerald]] to serve in [[Seanad Éireann]] as a Senator.<ref name=oireachtas_db/> Howlin secured election to [[Wexford County Council]] in 1985 and served as Mayor of Wexford in 1986.

In 1987, the Labour Party withdrew from the coalition government and a [[1987 Irish general election|general election]] was called. Howlin once again contested a seat in Wexford and was elected to [[Dáil Éireann]].<ref name="elecs_irl" /> Labour was out of office as a [[Fianna Fáil]] government took office. Despite his recent entry to the Dáil, Howlin was subsequently named [[Chief Whip]] of the Labour Party, a position he held until 1993.