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Kate O'Connell

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Kate O'Connell
O'Connell in 2016
Teachta Dála
In office
February 2016 – February 2020
ConstituencyDublin Bay South
Personal details
Born
Katherine Newman[1]

(1980-01-03) 3 January 1980 (age 44)
Kilbeggan, County Westmeath, Ireland
Political partyIndependent
Other political
affiliations		Fine Gael (until 2024)
Spouse
Morgan O'Connell
​
(m. 2008)​
Children3
Alma materUniversity of Brighton
ProfessionPharmacist

Katherine O'Connell (née Newman; born 3 January 1980) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Bay South constituency from 2016 to 2020.[2] During her time in the Dáil, O'Connell campaigned in favour of abortion rights as well as pushing for more funding for healthcare services in Ireland.[3]

Background

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O'Connell is from Kilbeggan, County Westmeath. From 1999 to 2003, she studied to be a pharmacist at the University of Brighton, graduating with an M Pharm in the United Kingdom.[4] She then worked as a hospital pre-registrar in the Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, before returning to Ireland to practice as a locum-pharmacist.[4] By 2006, O'Connell and her husband opened up their first pharmacy in Sandyford, and later opened up pharmacies in Rathgar, and Rathfarnham.[4]

Political career

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O'Connell was a member of Dublin City Council for the local electoral area of Rathgar–Rathmines from 2014 to 2016.[5][6]

O'Connell was selected by Fine Gael for the 2016 general election to "recapture" their seat in Dublin Bay South from Lucinda Creighton, who had left the party in 2013 over her objection to the party's position on abortion and in 2015 founded Renua, an anti-abortion party. During the campaign, O'Connell called Creighton's anti-abortion views "incredibly sanctimonious" and suggested that Creighton was an "out of touch career politician" whose views on abortion were borne out of a lack of connection with the real world.[7][8] The Irish Independent referred to these comments as O'Connell "tearing strips off" of Creighton.[7] In the election, O'Connell was elected, while Creighton lost her seat.

In her time in the Dáil, O'Connell campaigned in favour of abortion rights as well as pushing for more funding for healthcare services in Ireland.[3]

In October 2016 O'Connell responded to comments by the Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin that TDs should remember their faith when legislating for abortion in Ireland by stating "I don't see why the archbishop's views are in any way relevant. I don't see why Archbishop Martin should be getting involved in women's health issues. It is the same as asking my four-year-old. They [the Church] are entitled to their opinion, but I don't put any weight in them. I don't see what involvement the Catholic Church should have in women's health issues".[9]

In November 2017 O'Connell confronted Barry Walsh, a member of Fine Gael's executive council, with a dossier of tweets documenting that he repeatedly and frequently derogated women politicians, often calling them bitches, including fellow members of Fine Gael. After the leader of Fine Gael and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar commented that Walsh should resign, he did so.[10][11]

O'Connell lost her seat at the 2020 general election, placing 5th in the 4-seat constituency.[12] In an August 2020 interview, O'Connell attributed her loss, in part, to being the running mate of the Minister for Housing, Eoghan Murphy, in an election lately fought over an ongoing housing crisis in Ireland.[13]

On 7 May 2021, O'Connell declared she would not seek to be the Fine Gael candidate for the 2021 Dublin Bay South by-election. O'Connell suggested she would not be able to win a party selection again due to her relationship with the Fine Gael leadership souring in the meantime, partially because of her vocal support of Simon Coveney over Leo Varadkar in the 2017 Fine Gael leadership election. O'Connell also suggested many local Fine Gael branch members in Dublin South Bay regarded her as an outsider and a "parachute candidate" due to the fact she is originally from County Westmeath, and had turned against her over this.[14][15] The Phoenix offered the view that O'Connell would not be nominated because she had turned the Fine Gael leadership against her while lobbying for her sister Mary Newman Julian to be the party's candidate in a 2018 Seanad by-election.[16] In particular, a meeting between her and Simon Coveney in which O'Connell's expectations were read as entitled was cited as hurting her relationships.[17][18] Fine Gael's candidate in the by-election was James Geoghegan, who had previously left the party to join Lucinda Creighton in Renua, but returned to Fine Gael after that party collapsed.[19] Geoghegan lost the by-election to Labour's Ivana Bacik, a senator for Dublin University and veteran pro-choice campaigner.[20]

In 2024, O'Connell left Fine Gael to contest the next general election in Dublin Bay South as an independent candidate.[21][22][23]

Political views and profile

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O'Connell has been described by Irish political commentators and other politicians as one of the most outspoken[24] (social) liberals and progressives in Irish politics,[27] whose views and rhetoric often bristle against her opponents, including more conservative members of her own party. During the confrontation between O'Connell and Barry Walsh in 2017, Walsh called his fellow party member O'Connell typical of "hard left" politicians.[28] The Phoenix has referred to O'Connell as Fine Gael's "most prominent Feminist" and praised her for not shrinking away from difficult debates in the Dáil over abortion.[16] The Phoenix has also suggested that while O'Connell's outspokenness was praised by Fine Gael members when directed at opponents, equally she has caused internal discontent whenever she turned her criticisms inward, leading to her alienation from certain factions in the party.[16] The view was O'Connell was "alienating" was reiterated by an anonymous party source in July 2021.[29]

In 2018 O'Connell was on the forefront of Fine Gael's campaign to secure a Yes vote in that year's referendum on the repeal of the 8th amendment, the piece of the Irish constitution which forbade abortion.[3][16][13]

It was also in 2018 that O'Connell expressed the views that tax should be removed from the sale of condoms, that free contraception should be made available to women, that cannabis should be legalised and that Ireland should move to the eventual decriminalisation of all drugs.[25] O'Connell stated "My views on this are very liberal, I am very much pro-decriminalisation of all drugs. I think we should take the money out of the drug trade and then you deal with the drug trade. Look at what is going on we see it every week, bloodbaths over drug crime, it's been going on for years".[25]

During her time in Fine Gael, O'Connell was reported to have had a difficult relationship with party leader Leo Varadkar,[30] and following Varadkar's resignation as Fine Gael leader in 2024, O'Connell said that his resignation marked the "end of a dark enough chapter" in her life.[31]

In March 2020 Justine McCarthy, writing for The Times, accused Catholic conservative journalist John McGuirk of writing a hit piece on O'Connell that lambasted her for her liberalism. McCarthy opined that Irish politics needed more, not fewer politicians like O'Connell, and that McGuirk was a hypocrite for not levelling his same criticisms at male members of Fine Gael.[26]

Personal life

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O'Connell has stated her family, the Newmans, have been "involved in Fine Gael since the 1960s",[32] starting when O'Connell's maternal grandfather ran for Fine Gael as a councillor.[13] Her father Michael Newman was also a Fine Gael councillor while Fine Gael minister Patrick Cooney was considered a family friend.[33] O'Connell has stated that growing up, she and her family were greatly influenced by the progressive politics of Fine Gael leader Garret FitzGerald.[13] Her sister Mary Newman Julian is also active in politics and has contested elections for the Dáil in Tipperary and for Seanad Éireann,[16][32] while another sister, Theresa Newman, worked for a period as O'Connell's political adviser in Leinster House.[34] Her brother-in-law Hugh O'Connell is a prominent political journalist and editor who has worked for several Irish publications.[35]

In 2018 during debates in the Dáil regarding abortion, O'Connell disclosed personal details of a traumatic pregnancy she herself had experienced. During the pregnancy, she was told her child would only have a 10% chance of survival. This prompted O'Connell to have to consider terminating the pregnancy.[33] Ultimately, O'Connell decided to continue the pregnancy. O'Connell's child was born with organs outside of their body but survived the birth.[25][36] O'Connell cites the difficult decisions made during that pregnancy as having greatly informed her views on abortion.[33]

References

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  1. ^ "O'Connell's sister aiming to become the third family member in Leinster House". Irish Independent. 28 March 2018. Archived from the original on 21 April 2018. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  2. ^ "Kate O'Connell". Oireachtas Members Database. Archived from the original on 19 October 2019. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  3. ^ a b c McEnroe, Juno (28 February 2020). "FG's Kate O'Connell not selected to contest Seanad elections". Irish Examiner. Ms O'Connell was a prominent figure in the last Dail, campaigning to liberalise the abortion laws while also highlighting rundown health services.
  4. ^ a b c "Kate O'Connell talks challenges facing Irish healthcare". Irish Pharmacist News (IPN). Vol. 9, no. 10. January 2017. pp. 8–9. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  5. ^ "Kate O'Connell". ElectionsIreland.org. Archived from the original on 29 January 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  6. ^ "Election 2016: Kate O'Connell". RTÉ News. 28 February 2016. Archived from the original on 1 March 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  7. ^ a b Horan, Niamh (24 January 2016). "FG's new lady on block tears strip off 'sanctimonious' Lucinda". Irish Independent. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  8. ^ "Lucinda Creighton plays Sinn Fein card in battle for seat with Fine Gael's Kate O'Connell". Irish Independent. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  9. ^ McConnell, Daniel (4 October 2016). "Fine Gael TD: Archbishop's opinion on abortion 'is not at all relevant'". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  10. ^ Ó Cionnaith, Fiachra (18 November 2017). "Barry Walsh quits Fine Gael role after 'trial by media'". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  11. ^ Kinsella, Carl (18 November 2017). "Senior Fine Gael figure resigns after allegations of repeatedly calling women "bitch" on Twitter". Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  12. ^ Cullen, Paul (10 February 2020). "Dublin Bay South results: Andrews says tent incident influenced voters". The Irish Times. Dublin. Archived from the original on 5 June 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  13. ^ a b c d e The United Ireland podcast (August 2020). 32 Questions for Kate O'Connell (podcast). Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  14. ^ "Kate O'Connell will not run in Dublin Bay South by-election as Fine Gael leadership doesn't want her". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 8 July 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  15. ^ McGee, Harry (7 May 2021). "Kate O'Connell ruled out of byelection due to 'lack of leadership support'". Irish Times. Archived from the original on 8 July 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  16. ^ a b c d e "RISE AND FALL OF THE NEWMANS - The Phoenix Magazine". The Phoenix. 5 March 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  17. ^ "Eoghan Murphy's new partner". The Phoenix. 12 March 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  18. ^ Ryan, Philip (1 April 2018). "TD Kate O'Connell 'confronted Tanaiste in Dail restaurant' over his failure to support her sister's Seanad bid". Irish Independent. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  19. ^ Gataveckaite, Gabija (13 May 2021). "'I'm not a posh barrister' - Fine Gael's James Geoghegan fires back at 'personalised attacks' as he is selected party candidate for by-election". Irish Independent. Dublin. ISSN 0021-1222. Archived from the original on 8 July 2021. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  20. ^ "LIVEBLOG: Labour's Ivana Bacik tops poll in Dublin Bay South and set to take Dáil seat". TheJournal.ie. Dublin. 9 July 2021. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  21. ^ "Kate O'Connell snubs Simon Harris for election solo run as she can't excuse 'wastage of public money'". Sunday Independent. 13 October 2024. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  22. ^ Leahy, Pat (13 October 2024). "Kate O'Connell turned down for place on Fine Gael ticket in Dublin Bay South, says party". The Irish Times.
  23. ^ Hosford, Paul (13 October 2024). "Fine Gael denies offering former TD Kate O'Connell place on election ticket". Irish Examiner.
  24. ^
  25. ^ a b c d Cooney, Rosanna (2018). "This is why Kate O'Connell TD is in favour of legalising cannabis, abortion and decriminalising all drugs". Retrieved 24 February 2022. O'Connell's views on the Eighth Amendment seem to mark her as a progressive politician
  26. ^ a b Justine McCarthy (8 March 2020). "Justine McCarthy: Politics needs more like Kate O'Connell to defend us from John McGuirks". The Times. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  27. ^
  28. ^ Doyle, Kevin (15 November 2017). "Kate O'Connell writes to Fine Gael bosses about alleged online abuse from senior party figure". Irish Independent. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  29. ^ Lee, John (11 August 2021). "No way back for Kate O'Connell as Fine Gael has 'little sympathy' for former TD". Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  30. ^ "Kate O'Connell launches blistering attack at Leo Varadkar & Fine Gael after by-election snub - Extra.ie". 8 May 2021. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  31. ^ "Kate O'Connell: Varadkar's decision to stand down was 'end of dark enough chapter in my life'". The Irish Times. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  32. ^ a b McQuinn, Cormac (1 April 2020). "Would-be political dynasty stalls as sister of ex-TD O'Connell fails in bid for Seanad seat". Irish Independent. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  33. ^ a b c "Kate O'Connell: I wouldn't have stood unless I thought I could win". The Times. 8 February 2016. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  34. ^ Justine McCarthy (19 January 2020). "Ireland rugby ace Hugo MacNeill set to tackle the Seanad". The Times. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  35. ^ https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/kate-oconnells-fine-gael-return-continues-with-sister-appointed-to-cabinet-adviser-job/a53473114.html
  36. ^ O'Halloran, Marie (30 June 2016). "Kate O'Connell speaks of traumatic pregnancy diagnosis". Irish Times. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
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