seamus dubhghaill

Promoting Irish Culture and History from Little Rock, Arkansas, USA

Tag Archives: Liz O’Donnell


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Birth of Fiona O’Malley, Former Irish Politician

Fiona O’Malley, Irish former politician, is born in Limerick, County Limerick, on January 19, 1968. She serves as a Senator from 2007 to 2011, after being nominated by the Taoiseach. She serves as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dún Laoghaire constituency from 2002 to 2007.

O’Malley comes from a political family. Her father, Desmond O’Malley, is a former Fianna Fáil cabinet minister and founder of the Progressive Democrats. Her granduncle, Donogh O’Malley, is a Fianna Fáil minister in the 1960s. She is also a cousin of another former Progressive Democrats TD, Tim O’Malley.

A graduate of Trinity College Dublin and City, University of London, O’Malley works as an Arts Administrator before entering politics and as a personal assistant to Liz O’Donnell from 1998 to 2000. Her first political position is as elected member of the Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council from 1999. She is elected to Dáil Éireann for the Dún Laoghaire constituency at the 2002 Irish general election. She resigns her council seat in 2003 when the dual mandate comes into effect.

O’Malley is a member of the Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Sports and Tourism and the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children. She is also a member of the Dáil All-Party group concerned with matters of sexual and reproductive health. She has traveled to South America and South Africa with the United Nations Population Fund and has spoken extensively of the need for a clear safe sex message both in Ireland and in the developing world.

O’Malley loses her Dáil seat at the 2007 Irish general election, but is nominated by the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, to the Seanad in August 2007. She is narrowly defeated in the race to become the leader of the Progressive Democrats by Ciarán Cannon.

O’Malley is an independent politician from the dissolution of the Progressive Democrats in 2009. She is an independent candidate at the 2011 Seanad election for the Dublin University constituency but is not elected.


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Kosovar Refugees Allowed to Stay in Ireland Permanently

kosovar-refugees-in-ireland

On February 13, 2001, Kosovar refugees living in Tralee and Waterford celebrate their right to become Irish citizens, almost two years after they first arrive in Ireland. A total of 140 Kosovar refugees, displaced as a result of an ethnic war in their homeland, are to be allowed to live in Ireland permanently on humanitarian grounds.

The Minister of State, Liz O’Donnell, says that she is delighted at the successful conclusion to the programme. She tells The Irish Times, “I have always recommended that no one should be forcibly repatriated, so I would wholeheartedly welcome this move. It is exactly as I wanted it to turn out and I am delighted that the overall programme will be coming to such a successful conclusion. This could not have been achieved without the help of the many agencies that contributed to the programme. The multi-agency approach is the key to successful integration, and I want to pay special tribute to the staff of the Refugee Agency.”

There is relief and joy at the reception centres for programme refugees from Kosovo in Waterford and Tralee with the news that they can stay here indefinitely. Many of those affected are already in full-time employment or education. In five years’ time, the Kosovars will be allowed to apply for Irish citizenship.

A thousand refugees displaced in the war in former Yugoslavia came to Ireland in June of 1999. The cost of bringing the refugees to Ireland, providing for them and resettling them comes to between £5 and £6 million.

Over the previous six months, many have gradually returned home, and now those who do not want to go back have been told that they are welcome to officially start their new lives here. However, some Kosovars, who have come into Ireland by other means also claim asylum, saying that they too should be allowed to stay on humanitarian grounds. Their cases are assessed individually.

(Pictured: Iman Sheikh Hussein Halaw, Spiritual Leader of the Muslim Community in Dublin, and Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Liz O’Donnell TD, greet the first group of Kosovar Refugees to arrive at Dublin airport in 1999)