Lynn Ruane
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Lynn Ruane (born 20 October 1984) is an Irish politician who has served as an
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...
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 Dublin University constituency in
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 ...
since April 2016. She was the President of the
Trinity College Dublin Students' Union Trinity College Dublin Students' Union (or TCDSU) is a students' union and the recognised representative body of the 17,000 students of Trinity College Dublin. Its role is to provide a representative channel between all students (undergraduates an ...
from 2015 to 2016.


Early life

Ruane grew up in Tallaght; she became a single mother and left school aged 15. After returning to education via An Cosán, she studied addiction and helped to develop local services for drug users.


University politics

In 2012, she completed a
foundation programme A foundation programme, foundation program, foundation year, foundation year programme or foundation year program is a one-year introductory course to a full multi-year degree curriculum offered by many universities in the Commonwealth and elsewher ...
to allow access to a degree programme 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 ...
(TCD), and studied politics and philosophy. Having spent a year representing student parents on the Trinity College Dublin Students' Union executive, she was elected as the union's president on 12 February 2015, which gained national attention. As president, she was active in the
fossil fuel divestment Fossil fuel divestment or fossil fuel divestment and investment in climate solutions is an attempt to reduce climate change by exerting social, political, and economic pressure for the institutional divestment of assets including stocks, bonds ...
campaign at TCD, and the campaign to repeal the Eighth Amendment.


National politics

In December 2015, Ruane announced her intention to contest the 2016 Seanad election in the
Dublin University The University of Dublin ( ga, Ollscoil Átha Cliath), corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Du ...
constituency as an independent candidate. She was elected to represent Trinity graduates in the
Oireachtas The Oireachtas (, ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the bicameral parliament of Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of: *The President of Ireland *The two houses of the Oireachtas ( ga, Tithe an Oireachtais): ** Dáil Éireann ...
on the 15th and final count, unseating incumbent Sean Barrett. She was re-elected at the 2020 Seanad election, reaching the quota on the eighth count. In 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 ...
, Ruane sits with the
Civil Engagement group The Civil Engagement group () is a technical group in Seanad Éireann (the upper house of the Oireachtas or parliament of Ireland) composed of senators with a background in civic engagement organisations. History The group was established in ...
; an alliance of independent senators seeking to bring civil society expertise and experience into the Oireachtas. In May 2017, Ruane introduced the Controlled Drugs and Harm Reduction Bill to the Seanad which proposed removing criminal sanctions for minor drug possession. In February 2019, Ruane introduced the Criminal Justice (Rehabilitative Periods) Bill to the Seanad which proposed expanding access to spent convictions, where it passed unanimously. She has subsequently been referenced to as "a long-time campaigner for
drug reform Drug liberalization is a drug policy process of decriminalizing or legalizing the use or sale of prohibited drugs. Variations of drug liberalization include: drug legalization, drug re-legalization and drug decriminalization. Proponents of drug ...
in Ireland." She and
Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...
TD Neasa Hourigan have called for a
citizens' assembly A citizens' assembly (also known as citizens' jury or citizens' panel or people's jury or policy jury or citizens' initiative review or consensus conference or citizens' convention) is a body formed from randomly selected citizens to deliberat ...
on drugs. She was vice-chair of the special Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment, which was established to examine the repeal of Ireland's constitutional ban on abortion and recommend the legal grounds to access an abortion in Ireland. Miriam Lord of ''
The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
'' named Ruane her 2016 Senator of the Year.


Personal life

In 2016, Ruane played a juror on the
TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television * Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by E ...
historical courtroom drama ''Trial of the Century''. In September 2018, Ruane published a memoir entitled ''People Like Me''. The memoir reached number one on the Irish paperback non-fiction charts and won the 2018
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 ...
Irish Book Award The Irish Book Awards are Irish literary awards given annually to books and authors in various categories. In 2018 An Post took over sponsorship of the awards from Bord Gais Energy. It is the only literary award supported by all-Irish bookstores. ...
for best non-fiction. She was also a contributor to the collection of memoirs and essays called ''The 32: An Anthology of Irish Working-Class Voices''. Ruane's daughter
Jordanne Jones Jordanne Jones (born 7 August 2000) is an Irish actress. She began her career as a child actress, earning a Dublin Film Critics' Circle Award as well as an IFTA nomination for her debut film role in Frank Berry's ''I Used to Live Here''. In 20 ...
is a DFCC award-winning and
IFTA Ifta is a former municipality in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, Germany. Since 1 January 2019, it has been part of the town Treffurt Treffurt () is a small town in the western region of the Wartburgkreis district which belongs to the ...
nominated actress.


Bibliography

*''People Like Me'' (Gill Books, , published September 2018)


References


External links


Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruane, Lynn 1984 births Living people Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Drug policy reform activists Independent members of Seanad Éireann Members of the 25th Seanad Members of the 26th Seanad 21st-century women members of Seanad Éireann Members of Seanad Éireann for Dublin University People from South Dublin (county)