| Office: | Senator |
| Term Start: | 12 September 2002 |
| Term End: | 13 September 2007 |
| Constituency: | Industrial and Commercial Panel |
| Office1: | Teachta Dála |
| Term Start1: | November 1992 |
| Term End1: | May 2002 |
| Constituency1: | Dublin North-Central |
| Birth Date: | 11 September 1958 |
| Birth Place: | Dublin, Ireland |
| Party: | Labour Party |
Derek McDowell (born 11 September 1958) is an Irish former Labour Party politician. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1992 to 2002, and member of Seanad Éireann from 2002 to 2007.[1]
McDowell was an unsuccessful candidate at the 1989 general election in the Dublin North-Central constituency,[2] but at the 1992 general election he was returned to the 27th Dáil, topping the poll with 23% of the first-preference votes. He was re-elected at the 1997 general election with a much reduced share of the vote. At the 1999 Irish local elections, he was elected to Dublin City Council from the Clontarf area.
At the 2002 general election, McDowell lost his seat to the independent candidate Finian McGrath.[3] After the loss of his seat in Dáil Éireann, McDowell was elected to the 22nd Seanad by the Industrial and Commercial Panel, where he was Labour's Seanad spokesperson on Finance, Transport, Enterprise, Trade and Employment. At the 2007 general election, he stood again in the Dublin North–Central constituency, but did not regain his seat. He did not contest the subsequent elections to the 23rd Seanad.[2]
McDowell worked as Head of International Advocacy at Concern Worldwide,.[4] During the 2011 to 2016 Fine Gael–Labour Party coalition he served as deputy government press secretary and advisor to Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore and Tánaiste Joan Burton.