Posts tagged ‘Political Platform’
Political Platform: Senator Marc MacSharry
Tuesday, April 9th, 2013Fianna Fáil Senator Marc MacSharry is a party spokesman on health and sits on the Industrial and Commercial Panel. He has served in Seanad Éireann since 2002, and is a son of former Tánaiste and EU Agriculture Commissioner Ray MacSharry. Marc is married to Marie with one son and one daughter. How did your interest in politics come about? Politics was unavoidable in our home growing up. For my earlier years, Dad was a full-time politician and public representation was all I knew as his career. My introduction and interest in politics is clearly linked to that early exposure. Later,...[full story]
Political Platform: Political Platform: Noel Grealish TD
Monday, October 29th, 2012First elected a TD in 2002, Noel Grealish was a Progressive Democrat until the party disbanded in 2009, but now serves Galway West as an independent. He tells eolas about the party’s time in power and shares his views on why people have lost confidence in the political system. How and why did you become involved in politics? I got involved through my dad who was a staunch Fianna Fáiler, who dragged me screaming to my first Fianna Fáil meeting at 15 years of age. He was President of the local cumann, and from that I got involved. I developed a very good friendship with Bobby Molloy....[full story]
Political Platform, Public affairs: Political Platform: Dara Calleary TD
Friday, August 31st, 2012Following in his father’s footsteps, Dara Calleary was first elected as TD for Mayo in the 2007 general election. He served as Minister of State for Labour Affairs and Public Service Transformation (2009 to 2011). Here, he discusses Fianna Fáil’s prospects for a comeback and his preferred budget choices. How and why did you become involved in politics? As my father Seán was a Fianna Fáil TD for the Mayo East constituency, I always had a strong interest in current affairs and politics, right back to when I was in my final years of national school. Our house was always one where...[full story]
Political Platform: Labour’s Aodhán Ó Ríordáin
Monday, May 28th, 2012The politics of the left must be at the heart of government, Labour’s Dublin North Central TD Aodhán Ó Ríordáin tells eolas. How and why did you become involved in politics? My family have always been very politically aware without being supporters of any particular political party. I would have grown up with stories of my grandparents’ involvement in the Easter Rising, the War of Independence and the Civil War, so I was always conscious of how important politics can be in people’s lives. My upbringing was a Catholic one in a very positive sense and we were always encouraged...[full story]
Political Platform: Fine Gael’s Damien English
Wednesday, April 4th, 2012A school meeting with Taoiseach John Bruton in 1995 sparked Damien English’s interest in politics. Seventeen years later, the 34-year old Meath West TD chairs the Oireachtas Committee for Jobs, Social Protection and Education. How did you become involved in politics and what attracted you to Fine Gael? My interest in politics was not innate but was acquired in my late teens. I lay the blame for my initial interest in politics firmly with one of my secondary school teachers, PJ Nugent, who arranged for students to meet the Taoiseach, John Bruton. It was 1995 and I’m still not...[full story]
Political Platform: Seán Crowe TD
Monday, February 6th, 2012First elected to the Dáil for Dublin South West in 2002, Sinn Féin’s Seán Crowe lost his seat in 2007 but regained it in 2011. He was a councillor on South Dublin County Council from 1999 to 2003 and 2008 to 2011. Now the party spokesman on education and skills, he reflects on a changed Dáil. How did you get involved with politics? I suppose the big influence was what was happening in the North: the Civil Rights Movement, people being treated like second class citizens in their own land, the denial of housing because of religion and or perceived politics, the gerrymandering...[full story]
Political Platform: Ciara Conway
Monday, November 7th, 2011Former social worker Ciara Conway is one of the 19 new Labour TDs elected to the Dáil. First attracted to Labour through her grandfather who was influential in the trade union movement, she now juggles motherhood and her job as a TD. Here, she tells eolas about how local politics should influence national policy and calls for more jobs for Waterford. How did you get involved in politics? Why Labour? My mother is a community psychiatric health nurse and my dad is a teacher, so politics was always discussed round the table when I was growing up. At the age of 16 I became involved in...[full story]
Political Platform: Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty
Friday, August 19th, 2011Pearse Doherty is a Sinn Féin TD for Donegal South-West and party spokesman on finance. Before politics he worked as a civil engineering technician and on an EU-funded project that trained, educated and counselled former republican prisoners. He was elected a councillor in 2004 before becoming a Senator in 2007. In 2010, after taking the previous government to the High Court over a delay in holding the Donegal South West by-election he was elected a TD in the by-election. He is married to Róisín and has three sons. How did you get involved in politics? I never expected to get involved...[full story]
Political Platform: Jerry Buttimer TD
Wednesday, March 30th, 2011Jerry Buttimer TD, Cork South Central A former Cork City councillor, Buttimer was unsuccessful in the 2007 general election but was subsequently elected to Seanad Éireann, where he was Fine Gael’s spokesman on community, rural and Gaeltacht affairs. A former secondary school teacher and director of adult education, Buttimer tells eolas that his passion for politics was ignited at an early age. How did you become involved in politics? I grew up in a house where my dad and my maternal grandfather were very involved in Fine Gael. It would be fair to say that politics and our house went...[full story]
Political Platform: Margaret Conlon TD
Wednesday, December 1st, 2010One of three Fianna Fáil TDs for Cavan-Monaghan, Margaret Conlon was elected to Dáil Éireann in the 2007 election. Married to Seamus with two sons and one daughter, she lives near Castleblayney. Margaret is a former deputy principal of St Louis Secondary School, in Monaghan town, where she taught business studies and economics. How did you get started in politics? I have been involved in politics since I was 15 years of age when my late father brought me to my first cumann meeting. I continued my active involvement during my college education in St Patrick’s College Maynooth and...[full story]
