Lorraine Higgins (born 3 August 1979) is an Irish barrister, and a former Labour Party politician who represented the party in the

24th Seanad This is a list of the members of the 24th Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Oireachtas (legislature) of Ireland. These Senators were elected on 27 April 2011 after postal voting closed. The Taoiseach's nominees were announced on 20 May 20 ...

after being

nominated by the Taoiseach A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example: * to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs. * t ...

Enda Kenny Enda Kenny (born 24 April 1951) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 2011 to 2017, Leader of Fine Gael from 2002 to 2017, Minister for Defence from May to July 2014 and 2016 to 2017, Leader of the Opposition from ...

. From

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city on ...

, she is a graduate of

NUI Galway The University of Galway ( ga, Ollscoil na Gaillimhe) is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. A tertiary education and research institution, the university was awarded the full five QS stars for excellence in 201 ...

(acquiring a B.A. from the university in 2001) and, later, the King's Inns. During her time there she was Labour Party Seanad spokesperson on Reform and Foreign Affairs.

Career

She ran as a candidate in the Galway East constituency at the 2011 general election. In May 2011, she was

to the

. Higgins was a candidate for the Labour Party in the Midlands–North-West constituency for the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded candid ...

but failed to take a seat during one of the worst elections for the Party. She did, however, get the most Party votes in all the constituencies they contested. In 2015, leading national publication, the Irish Times named her as one of the Top 5 People in Politics to Watch and one of the Top 50 People in Ireland to Watch. She unsuccessfully contested the

2016 Irish general election The 2016 Irish general election took place on Friday 26 February to elect 158 Teachtaí Dála (TDs) across 40 constituencies to Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's parliament. The 31st Dáil was dissolved by Presid ...

for the Galway East constituency. She was not selected for re-appointment to the

25th Seanad This is a list of the members of the 25th Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Oireachtas (legislature) of Ireland. 49 Senators were elected in April 2016 when postal voting closed. The Taoiseach nominated an additional eleven members to the ...

. Higgins complained about how "regrettable" it was that more women were not included in the parliamentary party. She was quoted as saying: "For me it was the last throw of the dice and I probably won't be involved in representative politics again". In March 2017, Higgins became employed as Head of Public Affairs and Communications and as a board member with Retail Excellence. She was promoted to the position of CEO in July 2018. She subsequently founded leading digital representative body, Digital Business Ireland, and Dublin-based consultancy company, Rockwood Public Affairs. She was appointed to the position of Honorary Consul of the Slovak Republic in 2019. In August 2020, she attended a golf party in County Galway which breached the COVID-19 guidelines.

2015 threats and harassment

During the summer of 2015, a man named Stephen French of Walkinstown sent her messages involving violent and anti-Semitic content, saying that he "will watch her bleed" and that he is "going to blow her fucking Jew nose right off". In the aftermath of the incidents, French was spared from serving time in jail and given a suspended six-month sentence after his guilty plea to three charges of threatening Higgins and two charges of harassing her.

References

External links

Lorraine Higgins's page on the Labour Party website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins, Lorraine 1979 births Living people Alumni of the University of Galway Irish barristers Irish female golfers Irish women lawyers Labour Party (Ireland) senators Members of the 24th Seanad 21st-century women members of Seanad Éireann Nominated members of Seanad Éireann Lawyers from Galway (city) Politicians from County Galway Alumni of King's Inns Victims of cyberbullying 21st-century Irish lawyers Labour Party (Ireland) candidates in Dáil elections 21st-century Irish women lawyers