Joanna Tuffy (born 9 March 1965) is an Irish Labour Party politician who served as a

Teachta Dála A Teachta Dála ( , ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament). It is the equivalent of terms such as ''Member of Parl ...

(TD) for the Dublin Mid-West constituency 2007 to 2016. She was a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

for the Administrative Panel from 2002 to 2007.

Early life

Born in London in 1965, Tuffy was educated at

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

(BA) and the Dublin Institute of Technology (Legal Studies).

Political career

She was elected to

South Dublin County Council South Dublin County Council ( ga, Comhairle Contae Átha Cliath Theas) is the authority responsible for local government in the county of South Dublin, Ireland. It is one of three local authorities created by the Local Government (Dublin) A ...

for the

Lucan Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (3 November 39 AD – 30 April 65 AD), better known in English as Lucan (), was a Roman poet, born in Corduba (modern-day Córdoba), in Hispania Baetica. He is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Imperial ...

area in 1999 and served until 2003. At the 2002 general election she unsuccessfully stood for election to

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland rea ...

for Dublin Mid-West. She was subsequently elected to the 22nd

Seanad Éireann Seanad Éireann (, ; "Senate of Ireland") is the upper house of the Oireachtas (the Irish legislature), which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann (the lower house). It is commonly called the Seanad or Senate and its memb ...

by the Administrative Panel. She was elected to Dáil Éireann for the first time at the 2007 general election. Her father is Eamon Tuffy, a former Labour Party councillor for Lucan, he was co-opted to replace her in 2003. Tuffy is a strong supporter of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and served as vice-chair of the Oireachtas Friends of Israel group. She, along with TD

Tommy Broughan Thomas Broughan (born 1 August 1947) is a former Irish Independent politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1992 to 2020. He sat as a TD for the Labour Party until late 2011, representing the Dublin North-East constituency from 19 ...

, opposed Labour going into coalition with

Fine Gael Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil É ...

in the aftermath of the 2011 general election. In September 2013, Tuffy publicly disagreed with the official Labour Party position supporting the abolition of the Seanad during the

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a Representative democr ...

campaign. She argued that it had played a key role in the past and could do so in the future. Tuffy lost her seat at the 2016 general election. She was re-elected to South Dublin County Council in the 2019 local elections. She contested the 2019 Dáil by-election in the Dublin Mid-West constituency, when she gained 6.7% of the first preference votes but was not elected. She was also an unsuccessful candidate for Dublin Mid-West at the 2020 general election, when her share of first preference votes fell to only 3.39%.

References

External links

Joanna Tuffy's page on the Labour Party website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuffy, Joanna 1965 births Living people Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Alumni of Dublin Institute of Technology Irish solicitors Labour Party (Ireland) TDs Members of the 22nd Seanad 21st-century women members of Seanad Éireann Members of the 30th Dáil Members of the 31st Dáil 21st-century women Teachtaí Dála Labour Party (Ireland) senators Local councillors in South Dublin (county) People from Lucan, Dublin