Arms control

Prior to entering politics, Murphy worked in international arms control, specifically in the area of nuclear weapons disarmament. He has worked for the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) in Geneva, Switzerland, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Dublin, and before his election to Dublin City Council, he was working as a speechwriter for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) in Vienna, Austria.^[10] In a 2015 Dáil debate on Irish neutrality, Murphy supported ending the triple lock requirement for Irish military deployment to have United Nations Security Council support, on the ground that it makes Ireland subject to Russia's veto power.^[11][12]

Politics

Murphy stood in his first election in 2009 and topped the poll when he was elected to Dublin City Council at the 2009 local elections for the local electoral area of Pembroke–Rathmines.^[13] He was 27 at the time.

At the 2011 general election, he was elected to Dáil Éireann for the Dublin South-East constituency, vacating his seat on the council. In the 31st Dáil, he sat on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), then regarded as the foremost Oireachtas Committee due to its special powers, and subsequently served on the Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis, established to examine the causes of Ireland's property-driven banking collapse which resulted in a national bailout. When that inquiry almost collapsed Murphy, together with Senator Susan O'Keeffe, was asked by their colleagues to rescue the final report, which was published in January 2016.^[14]

In his first term he also led the Oireachtas delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE, serving as a short-term observer to the Russian presidential election in 2012, and as Special Co-Ordinator for the Bulgarian parliamentary elections in 2013.^[15]

In 2013, Murphy self-published "Reforming Dáil Eireann: A View from the Backbenches", a booklet containing a series of reforms which sought to strengthen the independence of parliament vis-a-vis government, implicitly criticising his own Party in government at the time: "But if the foundations of our democracy continue to be weak, whatever we build on them will be weaker.”^[16][17]

At the 2016 general election, Murphy topped the poll in the redrawn constituency of Dublin Bay South, winning the second seat.

When the 2016 election failed to give any one party an outright majority, Murphy was drafted in by Enda Kenny to represent Fine Gael as a part of a small team heavily involved in talks with other parties and independents on the formation of a minority government.^[18] He was subsequently appointed by Taoiseach Enda Kenny to the minority Fine Gael–Independent government as Minister of State at the Department of Finance and at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform with responsibility for Financial Services, eGovernment and Public Procurement.^[19][20]

When Enda Kenny announced his resignation as President of Fine Gael and Taoiseach in early 2017, Leo Varadkar appointed Murphy to run his parliamentary party campaign. Murphy was instrumental in orchestrating Varadkar's successful election as President of Fine Gael and subsequently as Taoiseach.^[21][22]

Following Leo Varadkar's appointment as Taoiseach, Murphy was promoted to the cabinet, as Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government in June 2017. On 25 September 2018, Murphy survived a motion of no confidence which had been tabled by Sinn Féin. The motion was defeated by 59 to 49 votes.^[23] In December 2019, another motion of no confidence was tabled against Murphy, this time by the Social Democrats. The motion was defeated by 59 votes to 56.^[24][25][26]

In the 2020 general election he was elected to the third seat in Dublin Bay South.^[27][28] After the election he continued to serve as minister during the first phase of the Covid pandemic. At the formation of a new government on 27 June 2020 he announced that he was stepping back from ministerial politics to focus on reform of his party.^[29] He resigned his seat in the Dáil in April 2021.

Election Observation

On 27 April 2021, Murphy resigned his seat in Dáil Éireann, and announced that he would return to working in international affairs.^[30][1] That same year he began working with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), consulting for the election monitoring arm of the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

In May 2021, Murphy was appointed as Head of Mission to the election observation mission to the early parliamentary elections in Armenia.^[31] In September 2021, Murphy was appointed as Head of Mission to the election observation mission to the presidential election in Uzbekistan.^[32]

Murphy returned to Armenia and Uzbekistan in 2022 to follow up on recommendations his team had made to further enhance the conduct of elections in both countries and to support efforts to bring them fully in line with OSCE commitments and other international obligations and standards for democratic elections.^[33][34]

In September 2022, Murphy was appointed as Head of Mission to the election assessment mission to the parliamentary elections in Italy.^[35]

More recently, in February 2023, Murphy was appointed Head of Mission to the early parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan.^[36]