Emer Higgins (born 1985/86) is an Irish
Fine Gael politician who has been a
Teachta Dála (TD) for the
Dublin Mid-West constituency since the
2020 general election
The following elections were scheduled to occur in 2020. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems maintains a comprehensive list of upcoming elections on its E-Guide Platform. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calend ...
.
She was co-opted as a member of
South Dublin County Council in 2011 and continued as a councillor until her election as a TD in 2020, and worked as chief of staff of global operations for
PayPal. She served as Leader of the Fine Gael group on South Dublin County Council and as Chair of the Land use, Planning and Transport SPC Strategic Policy Committee.
In 2019, she ran as the Fine Gael candidate in the
2019 Dublin Mid-West by-election
A by-election was held in the Dáil Éireann Dublin Mid-West constituency in Ireland on Friday, 29 November 2019, to fill the vacancy left by the election of Fine Gael TD Frances Fitzgerald to the European Parliament.
It was held on the sam ...
where she was beaten by the
Sinn Féin candidate
Mark Ward.
She is a member of the Governing Authority of
University College Dublin (UCD), where she went to college and graduated with a Honours Degree in Economics and Sociology.
She also worked for a period of five years as an aide to
Frances Fitzgerald.
In November 2019, she apologised for an incident in 2014, in which she delivered a letter to her constituents where she expressed "delight" over canceled plans for accommodation for
Irish Travellers in
Newcastle, South Dublin.
At the general election in February, she was one of two Fine Gael candidates in Dublin Mid-West. She won 4,487
first preference votes (9.87% of the total), just under half of the
quota of 9,091 votes, but she gained a lot of transfers from both her Fine Gael running-mate Vicki Casserley and the independent candidate
Paul Gogarty
Paul Nicholas Gogarty (born 20 December 1968) is an Irish Independent politician who has served as a South Dublin County Councillor for Lucan since May 2014. He was previously a member of the Green Party, and served as a Green Teachta Dála (TD ...
, and was elected on the 9th and final count.
Following Higgins's election to the Dáil, Shirley O'Hara was co-opted to her seat on
South Dublin County Council.
In May 2022, Higgins was widely criticised on social media for her "months-long campaign" and work with
Simon Coveney to rename
An Post
(; literally 'The Post') is the state-owned provider of postal services in Ireland. An Post provides a "universal postal service" to all parts of the country as a member of the Universal Postal Union. Services provided include letter post, p ...
's Passport Express service as Post Passport, as it wasn't quick enough. Critics described her video announcing the change as "tone deaf" and asked whether there were not more important issues for elected representatives to deal with. As a result she was
ratioed
Since the launch of Twitter on July 15, 2006, there have been many notable uses for the service, in a variety of environments.
In law enforcement
Many police officers use Twitter to provide details on their daily routine and appeals for informat ...
on Twitter.
On 17 December 2022, Higgins seconded the uncontested nomination of
Leo Varadkar
Leo Eric Varadkar ( ; born 18 January 1979) is an Irish politician who has served as Taoiseach since December 2022, and previously from 2017 to 2020. He served as Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment from June 2020 to De ...
as
Taoiseach for his second term.
References
External links
*
Emer Higgins' page on the Fine Gael website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins, Emer
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Fine Gael TDs
Members of the 33rd Dáil
21st-century women Teachtaí Dála
Local councillors in South Dublin (county)