Profile: A career with its share of hard knocks

POLITICS IS a bruising business, and Senator Déirdre de Búrca had taken her share of hard knocks in the recent past.

Having run a high-profile campaign for a European Parliament seat in Dublin in June, she obtained more first-preferences than Patricia McKenna but was passed out on transfers by the former Green MEP, who ran as an Independent.

Worse still, de Búrca failed to achieve the target of one-quarter of the quota needed for reimbursement of election expenses. The Senator sought a recheck of her votes but called it off when it became obvious she would not reach the required level.

She said at the time the cost of her campaign had been “several multiples” of the €38,000 maximum reimbursement and that the campaign was “largely funded through my own personal funds”.

More recently she was the subject of speculative reports about a possible appointment to the cabinet of Ireland’s new European Commissioner, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn. Her resignation came shortly after the new appointees were revealed, giving rise to suggestions that her exclusion was a contributing factor, although it is not mentioned in her letter of resignation.

Born in Cork, de Búrca grew up in the Dublin suburb of Loughlinstown. She attended Cabinteely Community School and went on to Carysfort Teacher Training College in Blackrock, where she trained as a primary teacher.

She left teaching after three years to study psychology at University College Dublin, and later worked with Rehab on vocational training for people with disabilities.

First elected to Wicklow County Council in 1999, she was re-elected with more than double the number of votes in 2004.

She took a strong interest in planning and waste management issues and challenged a number of late-night zoning decisions taken by her fellow councillors. She also received leave from the High Court to judicially review a council decision to privatise waste collection services.

She was not successful in being granted the reliefs she sought but did not have costs awarded against her as the judge ruled that her case had raised a number of important legal points.

Running for the Dáil in the 2002 and 2007 general elections, she was eliminated on the seventh count on both occasions. In August 2007 she was nominated to Seanad Éireann by Bertie Ahern following the formation of the Fianna Fáil-Green coalition.

Having campaigned against the Nice Treaty, she supported the Green Party’s decision to campaign for a Yes vote on Lisbon in last year’s referendum and, as her party’s spokeswoman on European Affairs, played a high-profile role in the campaign.