Nessa Childers | |
|---|---|
.JPG) | |
| Member of the European Parliament | |
| In office 1 July 2014 – 24 May 2019 | |
| Constituency | Dublin |
| In office 1 July 2009 – 24 May 2014 | |
| Constituency | East |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1956-10-09)9 October 1956 (age 69) Castleknock, Dublin, Ireland |
| Party | Independent |
| Other political affiliations |
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| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Parents |
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| Relatives |
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| Education | |
| Website | nessachilders |
Nessa Maria Vereker Childers (born 9 October 1956) is an Irish formerindependent politician who served as aMember of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2009 to 2019.[1]
She is the daughter of the fourthPresident of Ireland,Erskine H. Childers[2][3] and his second wife,Rita Childers.[4] Her paternal grandfather wasErskine Childers, a leadingIrish republican and author of the espionage thrillerThe Riddle of the Sands. She has an Arts and Psychology degree fromTrinity College Dublin and a postgraduate diploma fromUniversity College Dublin. During her time at Trinity she served as Registrar of theUniversity Philosophical Society. She previously worked as apsychoanalyst in private practice.[5]
She is a formerCounty councillor for theGreen Party, representing theBlackrock local electoral area onDún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council. She was elected in 2004 and resigned from her seat in August 2008.[6]
Childers originally joined theLabour Party before the2004 local elections, but when she failed to get a nomination to run for Dún LaoghaireRathdown County Council, she switched to the Green Party and was elected to represent it as a Councillor.[6]
In September 2008, she resigned from the Green Party to run for theLabour Party in theEast constituency at the2009 European Parliament election.[7] She was elected in May 2009.[8]
Between 2009 and 2014, Childers was a member of theEuropean Parliament'sCommittee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and the delegation for relations with Japan. She was also a substitute member of theCommittee on Culture and Education.[9]
In November 2011, she refused to support the Irish Government's nominee to theEuropean Court of Auditors, Kevin Cardiff.[10] who was head of the Financial Services Division of the Department of Finance.[11] Childers said she had concerns about his suitability given the uncertainty around his role in theIrish Bank Guarantee and a recent serious error in the calculation of the Irish public finances.[12]
Childers campaigned unsuccessfully to have former Fianna Fáil TD, Minister and European CommissionerPádraig Flynn, stripped of his Commission pension after theMahon Tribunal, which found him to have received corrupt payments. The reason the Commission gave was that the findings "do not represent the verdict of a court after due process".[13]
She resigned from theParliamentary Labour Party on 5 April 2013, saying "..I no longer want to support a Government that is actually hurting people".[14] She resigned from theLabour Party itself in July 2013.[15] She was anon-attached MEP from 2013 to 2014.
In June 2013, she called upon MinisterPhil Hogan to convene a commission to decide on new constituency boundaries. She noted a reduction in European Parliamentary seats allocated to Irish constituencies, which had fallen from 12 to 11 as a consequence of the accession ofCroatia to the European Union.[16] She further called for a ban on the placement of election posters on local council-owned poles, but not on the more commoneircom poles orElectric Ireland poles. The commission was appointed in July 2013.[17]
In January 2014, Childers announced that she would switch from the East constituency to theDublin constituency at the2014 European Parliament election.[18] For the 2014 election the East constituency was abolished with the northern part transferred to the newMidlands–North-West constituency, and the southern part transferred to theSouth constituency.
Childers was elected for the Dublin constituency at the 2014 European election. On 18 June 2014, she was re-admitted to theProgressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D).[19] In 2017, Childers stated she would not contest the2019 European Parliament elections.[20]
Childers is a member of the Advisory Panel ofDemocracy in Europe Movement 2025.[21]
