Kathleen O'Meara - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Kathleen O'Meara is an Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

politician and member of the 21st and 22nd Seanads for the Labour Party

Labour Party (Ireland)

The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in the Republic of Ireland. The Labour Party was founded in 1912 in Clonmel, County Tipperary, by James Connolly, James Larkin and William X. O'Brien as the political wing of the Irish Trade Union Congress. Unlike the other main Irish...

in Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

. On both occasions she was elected by the Agricultural Panel.

A triplet

Multiple birth

A multiple birth occurs when more than one fetus is carried to term in a single pregnancy. Different names for multiple births are used, depending on the number of offspring. Common multiples are two and three, known as twins and triplets...

, and the identical twin

Twin

A twin is one of two offspring produced in the same pregnancy. Twins can either be monozygotic , meaning that they develop from one zygote that splits and forms two embryos, or dizygotic because they develop from two separate eggs that are fertilized by two separate sperm.In contrast, a fetus...

of journalist Aileen O'Meara, she is a graduate of NUI Galway. Before entering politics, she was an RTÉ journalist.

At the 1997 general election

Irish general election, 1997

The Irish general election of 1997 was held on Friday, 6 June 1997. The 166 newly elected members of the 28th Dáil assembled on 26 June 1997 when a new Taoiseach and government were appointed....

, O'Meara was an unsuccessful candidate in the constituency of Tipperary North. In the 1999 local elections

Irish local elections, 1999

The 1999 Irish local elections were held in all the counties, cities and towns of Ireland on 10 June 1999, on the same day as the European elections.- Results :18 Workers' Party councillors had left the party in 1992 upon the creation of Democratic Left...

, she was elected to Nenagh Town Council. She was a candidate again for Dáil Éireann

Dáil Éireann

Dáil Éireann is the lower house, but principal chamber, of the Oireachtas , which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann . It is directly elected at least once in every five years under the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote...

in the 2002 general election

Irish general election, 2002

The Irish general election of 2002 was held on Friday, 17 May 2002 just over three weeks after the dissolution of the 28th Dáil on Thursday 25 April by President Mary McAleese, at the request of the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern...

, increasing her share of the vote from 10.3% to 13.5%, but again failing to be elected.

During her second term in the Senate (2002–2007) O'Meara came to national prominence as a health campaigner. She drove the Nenagh Hospital Action Group, one of many groups formed to oppose Government health policy, contained in the Hanly report, to remove emergency services from smaller general hospitals.

Unusually for a Senator, she was the Labour Party's front-bench spokesperson on Childcare from 2003–2007. She was the Whip of the Labour Group in Seanad Éireann.

She was an unsuccessful candidate in 2007 general election for Tipperary North, getting 10.3% of the vote. She did not contest the Seanad elections in 2007.

Following the election, O'Meara set up Alchemy Communications, a consultancy, with two other experienced public relations and communications consultants. As of 22 September 2008, she is Head of Advocacy and Communications for the Irish Cancer Society.

In 2011, O'Meara unsuccessfully contested the Labour Party Presidential nominee election. The nomination going instead to Party President and former TD, Michael D. Higgins

Michael D. Higgins

Michael Daniel Higgins is the ninth and current President of Ireland, having taken office on 11 November 2011 following victory in the 2011 Irish presidential election. Higgins is an Irish politician, poet, sociologist, author and broadcaster. Higgins was President of the Labour Party until his...

External links

Kathleen O'Meara's page on the Labour Party website
Kathleen O'Meara's electoral history (ElectionsIreland.org)

External links

See also