Bríd Rodgers (; born 20 February 1935) in Gweedore,

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconn ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, is an Irish nationalist former politician. Although born and brought up in a

Gaeltacht ( , , ) are the districts of Ireland, individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home. The ''Gaeltacht'' districts were first officially reco ...

area in the west of

in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

, she was politically active in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, where she was Deputy-Leader of the

Social Democratic and Labour Party The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) ( ga, Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland ...

(SDLP) and

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. ...

for Upper Bann.

Political career

Rodgers was educated in Monaghan and University College, Dublin, and has lived in Northern Ireland since 1960. She was involved in the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association from 1965. She was a founder member of the SDLP, becoming Chairman in 1978 and General Secretary in 1981. In 1983 she was nominated to

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 ...

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the o ...

Garret FitzGerald, and served until 1987. Rodgers was the leader of the SDLP team in the talks that led to the

Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in No ...

. She was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly for the constituency of Upper Bann in June 1998. She was appointed to the first

Northern Ireland Executive The Northern Ireland Executive is the devolved government of Northern Ireland, an administrative branch of the legislature – the Northern Ireland Assembly. It is answerable to the assembly and was initially established according to the ...

in November 1999 as Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, and remained in that position until the suspension of the Executive in October 2002. She became deputy leader of the SDLP in November 2001. She stood down as MLA at the Assembly elections of November 2003, and as deputy leader in February 2004, when she was replaced by Alasdair McDonnell.

Personal life

Rodgers was married to Antoin Rodgers until his death in 2021. They had six children. She is a distant relative of Irish American mobster Vincent Coll. She speaks fluent Irish, French and Italian.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodgers, Brid 1935 births Living people People from Gweedore Alumni of University College Dublin Members of the 17th Seanad 20th-century women members of Seanad Éireann Members of the Northern Ireland Forum Northern Ireland MLAs 1998–2003 Ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive (since 1999) Social Democratic and Labour Party MLAs Female members of the Northern Ireland Assembly Women ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive Nominated members of Seanad Éireann Independent members of Seanad Éireann 20th-century women politicians from Northern Ireland 21st-century women politicians from Northern Ireland