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Barry Andrews (politician)

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Barry Andrews
MEP
Andrews in 2018
Member of the European Parliament
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 February 2020
ConstituencyDublin
Minister of State
2008–2011Children
Teachta Dála
In office
May 2002 – February 2011
ConstituencyDún Laoghaire
Personal details
Born (1967-05-16) 16 May 1967 (age 57)
Dublin, Ireland
Political party
Parent
Relatives
Alma materUniversity College Dublin
Websitebarryandrews.ie

Barry Andrews (born 16 May 1967) is an Irish politician who serves as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Dublin constituency. He is a member of Fianna Fáil, part of Renew Europe. He previously served as Minister of State for Children from 2008 to 2011. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dún Laoghaire constituency from 2002 to 2011.[1][2]

The Andrews family have a long connection with Fianna Fáil. Before entering political life, Andrews was a secondary school teacher. He was the Director-General of the Dublin-based Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA), a partly Irish State-funded EU think tank, since 2017. He was CEO of GOAL from 2012 to 2016, during which the agency grew from a turnover of €60m to more than €150m. He announced his resignation to allow for ‘a fresh start in terms of leadership’ in October 2016 in the wake of a fraud in the charity that was discovered in March 2016.[3]

Early career and personal life

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He was born in Dublin and was educated at Blackrock College.[citation needed] He attended university at University College Dublin (UCD).[4] He worked as a secondary school teacher in Dublin from 1991 until 1997, working in Ballyfermot Senior College, Sutton Park School and Bruce College.[4] While a secondary school teacher, he studied law at King's Inns and qualified as a barrister in 1997.[citation needed] He was called to the Bar in 1997 and practiced as a barrister until 2003.[4]

He is married and has two sons and a daughter. His brother, David McSavage is a comedian, and he is a first cousin of former RTÉ television and radio presenter Ryan Tubridy.

On 31 January 2011, in the run up to the general election, Andrews was named Health spokesman by the party leader, Micheál Martin.[5] He lost his seat at the general election.[6]

Political career

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Andrews was first elected to public office in the June 1999 local elections as a Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Councillor.[4] He was elected to Dáil Éireann at the 2002 general election.[7] Andrews comes from a family with strong political connections. His grandfather, Todd Andrews, fought in the War of Independence and became a founder-member of Fianna Fáil, and his grandmother, Mary Coyle, was a member of Cumann na mBan. Andrews's father, David Andrews served as a TD from 1965 to 2002 and is a former Foreign Minister, while his uncle, Niall Andrews, was a former Fianna Fáil TD and MEP and his cousin, Chris Andrews (son of Niall Andrews), has been a Sinn Féin TD since 2020 (having previously served as a Fianna Fáil TD from 2007 to 2011). In April 2018, Andrews was described as "part of Fianna Fáil royalty".[8]

In June 2006, Andrews led a group of Fianna Fáil backbenchers in an unsuccessful attempt to establish a backbench committee to influence government policy. At the 2007 general election, Andrews retained his seat in Dún Laoghaire with 8,587 votes.[6]

Minister of State for Children

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Andrews was appointed Minister of State for Children in May 2008. As Minister, he framed the Government response to the Ryan Report on Institutional Abuse. This included an Implementation Plan that delivered an additional 200 social workers for the HSE Child and Family Services.[9] In April 2009, Andrews introduced the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Scheme,[10] which provided, for the first time, free universal access to pre-school education. The scheme benefited 65,000 children in 2013.[11]

After the release of the Murphy Report into child abuse in the Dublin diocese in November 2009, Andrews, speaking at a conference in Dublin Castle, said it would be "amazing" if there were no consequences for people who were the subject of adverse findings in the report. Asked about the position of the Bishop of Limerick, Donal Murray, the Minister said, "I think it's everybody's view that if adverse findings are made against an individual in a commission of inquiry then it would be amazing that there be no consequences for them.".[12] Bishop Murray subsequently apologised to survivors and resigned from office.[13]

In December 2009, Andrews oversaw the introduction of government policy to lower the legal age of consent to 16. Citing a Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution report which recommended the legal age be reduced to 16 from the current 17. Andrews expressed the view the existing laws were "inappropriate" and out of touch with the modern reality of sexual relations between young people, and promised to publish legislation to change the age of Consent to 16. He noted that Ireland and Malta were "the only countries in Europe with an age of consent of 17".[14] However, the law was not passed by the Oireachtas before the 2011 Irish general election in which Fianna Fáil ceded power to a Fine Gael-Labour coalition.

Children's referendum

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In September 2012, he was appointed Fianna Fáil Director of Elections for the children's referendum.[15]

European Parliament

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In February 2019, he was selected as the Fianna Fáil candidate for the Dublin constituency at the 2019 European Parliament election.[16] He was elected in May 2019 receiving 14.1% of the 1st preference votes, but as the fourth candidate elected he did not take his seat until after the UK left the European Union on 31 January 2020.

In June 2023, Andrews was the recipient of the Defence, Security and Space Award at The Parliament Magazine's annual MEP Awards.[17]

Barry Andrews is a member of the Committee on International Development, the Committee on International Trade, the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, the Delegation to the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly, the Delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Assembly and the Delegation for relations with South Africa.[citation needed] His contributions to the International Trade committee have included his work on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) where he was a rapporteur.[18]

Andrews is a founder member of the European Parliament's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Alliance.[19] Andrews also founded the Brussels-Belfast Forum with members of the Northern Ireland Assembly.[citation needed]

He was appointed EU Chief Observer for the 2023 Nigerian Federal and State elections by High Representative Vice President Josep Borrell.[20] A report on the election was subsequently produced highlighting that the election was marred by a lack of transparency, public mistrust in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), violence, and vote buying, stressing the need for comprehensive electoral reforms.[21]

Andrews was re-elected to the European Parliament at the 2024 European Parliament election.[22]

Non-political career

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Sir John Major and Barry Andrews at an Institute of International and European Affairs event to mark the 20th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement

In November 2012, Andrews was appointed chief executive of the Irish aid charity GOAL, replacing the retiring founder John O'Shea.[23] In October 2016, Andrews resigned from GOAL after it was revealed that other senior executives of Goal had been involved in "large-scale fraud", though there was no suggestion that he himself was involved in the scandal. In October 2017, the new CEO of GOAL announced a deficit of €31.6 million due to the fraud but said that it would survive after "one of the most challenging years" in its 40-year history.[24]

In March 2017, Andrews was appointed as Director-General of the Irish State-supported EU think tank and advocacy body, the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA), with the Chairperson of the IIEA, former Leader of the Labour Party, Ruairi Quinn, describing Andrews as having the "political and administrative skills" of value to the IIEA.[25]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "GOAL appoints Barry Andrews as Chief Executive Officer". Goal. 8 November 2012. Archived from the original on 24 October 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  2. ^ "Goal appoints new chief executive". The Irish Times. 8 November 2012. Archived from the original on 9 November 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  3. ^ "'Fresh start' for troubled aid agency as Andrews resigns". The Sunday Business Post. Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d "BARRY ANDREWS: BA '88, MA '90 BL" (PDF). UCD Connections. 2006. p. 74. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 December 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2018. After graduation, Barry was a school teacher for seven years in Ballyfermot Senior College, Sutton Park School and Bruce College.
  5. ^ "New Fianna Fáil front bench is named". BBC News. 31 January 2011. Archived from the original on 7 November 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  6. ^ a b "Barry Andrews". ElectionsIreland.org. Archived from the original on 2 October 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2009.
  7. ^ "Barry Andrews". Oireachtas Members Database. Archived from the original on 17 June 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  8. ^ "PROFILE: BARRY ANDREWS". The Irish Phoenix Review. 5 April 2018. Archived from the original on 5 November 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2018. IF Fianna Fáil has a royal family it is the extended Andrews clan and former minister Barry Andrews was once seen as its crown prince.
  9. ^ "Launch of Implementation Plan in response to the Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse 2009". Department of Children and Youth Affairs. 28 July 2009. Archived from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  10. ^ "New Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Scheme". Children's Rights Alliance. 22 April 2009. Archived from the original on 18 November 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  11. ^ "Statement by Minister Andrews on the free Pre-School Year in Early Childhood Care and Education Scheme". Department of Children and Youth Affairs. 10 August 2009. Archived from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  12. ^ "McAleese praises Garda chief's swift, honest apology". The Irish Times. 12 December 2009. Archived from the original on 7 December 2010. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  13. ^ "Irish bishop Donal Murray resigns over abuse report". BBC. Archived from the original on 26 January 2019. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  14. ^ Smyth, Jamie. "Government proposes lowering age of sexual consent to 16". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 25 January 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  15. ^ "FF to hold public meeting on Children's Referendum in Monaghan". Fianna Fáil. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  16. ^ "Barry Andrews: European candidate plucked from Fianna Fáil royalty". The Irish Times. 18 February 2019. Archived from the original on 18 February 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  17. ^ "MEP Awards: Winners 2022". The Parliament Magazine. 27 June 2023. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  18. ^ "REPORT on the implementation and delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) | A9-0174/2022 | European Parliament".
  19. ^ "MEPs for SDGS".
  20. ^ "Chief Observer Barry Andrews launches the European Union Election Observation Mission to Nigeria 2023 and encourages cooperation for peaceful elections | EEAS".
  21. ^ "The European Union Election Observation Mission presented its final report with 23 recommendations; the EU stands ready to support Nigeria in their implementation | EEAS".
  22. ^ "Doherty, Andrews, Lynn Boylan and Ó Ríordáin elected MEPs". RTÉ News. 11 June 2024. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  23. ^ "Former junior minister Barry Andrews appointed CEO of Goal". The Journal. 8 November 2012. Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  24. ^ Shane Phelan (26 October 2017). "Aid charity Goal has €31m deficit after fraud probe". Archived from the original on 7 November 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2018. Goal's annual report for 2016, published yesterday, revealed expenditure was €194.6m, while its income was just €162.97m after "one of the most challenging years" in its 40-year history. The charity's new general manager Celine Fitzgerald told the Irish Independent the scale of the deficit was "unusual".
  25. ^ Ruadhán Mac Cormaic (7 March 2017). "Barry Andrews appointed director general to Dublin-based think tank". Irish Times. Archived from the original on 3 November 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
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Political offices
Preceded by Minister of State for Children
2008–2011 		Office abolished
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