Yes John is a TD however he will not need to stand for election during the next election circa 2012? if the gov lasts this long. John as Ceann Comhairle does not vote except in ties or have much to do except he is the speaker and his job is to keep control, and see to it that rules are adhered to. John has a casting vote in the event that there should ever be a tie in voting in the Dail, as nearly happened last week during a vote on Aer Lingus in Shannon which the gov won only by one vote, should that or any other vote be a tie John would have to cast his deciding vote which would most likely favour Fianna Fail. John will in theory remain a TD until 2017 providing he lives that long and that this current gov and the next government of 2012 goes full term. It was a stroke of genius by Bertie to nominate John as Ceann Comhairle as it will guarantee him his seat in the hotly contested South Kerry constituency which may merge with Kerry North to form a five seater representing all County Kerry. John is guaranteed his seat and it may eventually rid Fianna Fáil of the Healy-Rae Dynasty as Jackie (Highly Unlikey) or his son Michael would then be under pressure to retain the Healy-Rae seat in face of massive pressure from either Tom Fleming (unlikely) or Mark Daly (most likely) in a five seater the Healy Rae's would gather votes in North Kerry but either way they would be under pressure. If the South Kerry constituency is kept they would have virtually no hope because if Mark Daly who is from Kenmare runs he would erode the Healy-Rae home vote in Kilgarvan which is only 10kms from Kenmare as has close ties with the town. Coupled to this Mark Daly is a well liked auctioneer and a TV presenter with RTÉ and appeared on the RTE's Reality TV show Treasure Island in 2002. Mark Daly would gather a huge lot of John O'Donoghue's traditional votes and and the other Fianna Fail votes which went to Tom Fleming who out polled Jackie Healy-Rae twice but lost on transfers from FG and Lab. Either way whoever runs for FF is South Kerry next time is nearly guaranteed a seat most likely at the expense of the Healy-Rae's or Fine Gael.