Fidelma Healy Eames
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Fidelma Healy Eames (born 14 July 1962) is a former Irish politician and former member of
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 ...
. She was first elected to the Senate in 2007 by the
Labour Panel The Labour Panel ( ga, An Rolla Oibreachais) is one of five vocational panels which together elect 43 of the 60 members of Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Oireachtas (the legislature of Ireland). The Labour Panel elects eleven senators. ...
. As a member of the Reform Alliance group, she sat 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 * Independ ...
senator, having lost the
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 à ...
parliamentary
party whip A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology ...
in July 2013. In March 2016 she announced her retirement from politics. In April 2019, Healy Eames was a candidate in the
2019 European Parliament election in Ireland The 2019 European Parliament election in Ireland is the Irish component of the 2019 European Parliament election and was held on Friday, 24 May 2019, on the same day as the 2019 local elections and a referendum easing restrictions on divorc ...
for the Midlands-North West constituency.


Personal life and business

Healy Eames was born in Lakeview,
Moylough Moylough ( ; ) is a small rural village located in County Galway in Ireland. It is located on the N63 national secondary road (Cnoc Tua Mór–Longford), and is served also by the R328 and R364 regional roads. It is 50 km from Galway, 30 ...
, County Galway. She attended St. Patricks NS, Moylough and Holy Rosary College,
Mountbellew Mountbellew or Mountbellew Bridge (historically ''Creggaun'', from ) is a town in County Galway, Ireland. It lies mostly within the townland of Treanrevagh (''Trian Riabhach'') on the N63 national primary road. The town has a population of ap ...
. She grew up on the family dairy farm with her three sisters and one brother. Healy Eames is married to Michael Eames. They live in
Oranmore Oranmore ( or ''Úarán Mór'') is a town near the city of Galway in County Galway, Ireland. It is also the name of the civil parish and Roman Catholic parish in which the town lies. It is east of Galway city on the edge of Oranmore Bay, an ...
,
County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...
. Healy Eames graduated from both
Carysfort College Our Lady of Mercy College, Carysfort (commonly known as Carysfort College) was a ''College of Education'' in Dublin, Ireland from its foundation in 1877 until its closure in 1988. Educating primary school teachers, and located in a parkland cam ...
,
Western Connecticut State University Western Connecticut State University (WCSU and WestConn) is a public university in Danbury, Connecticut. It was founded in 1903 as a teacher's college and is part of the Connecticut State University System. WCSU consists of four schools: the Anc ...
in the USA, and
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 ...
, holding B.Ed., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees respectively. She was a
primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
teacher and college lecturer in
teacher education Teacher education or teacher training refers to programs, policies, procedures, and provision designed to equip (prospective) teachers with the knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, approaches, methodologies and skills they require to perform their ...
, and is the director of her own business, "FHE Education and Training Providers". During the 2018 referendum to remove the constitutional prohibition of abortion, Healy Eames set up an
anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...
website to advocate adoption as an option in crisis pregnancies. Healy Eames is herself an adoptive parent of two.


Political career


Local representation

Healy Eames was first elected to Galway County Council, for the Oranmore electoral area, and served there from 2004-2007. Her various appointments as a Galway County Councillor (2004-2007) included: Chairperson of County Galway Vocational Education Committee (VEC); member of Governing Body, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT), member of HSE West Regional Forum, director of Galway Airport, member of Galway City and County Enterprise Board, member of Western Rail Committee and member of Galway Arts Centre Board.


General election results

She was an unsuccessful candidate at the
2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
,
2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...
,
2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
, and
2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
general elections for the Galway West constituency. In the 2016 general election, she received 2.17% of the first preference vote, down from the 8.3% she had received in the 2011 election.


Senator

She was elected as a Senator by sitting TDs and councilors in 2007, and appointed the Fine Gael Seanad (senate) spokesperson on Education and Science. In 2011, she was appointed the Fine Gael Seanad Spokesperson on Social Protection and member of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs and the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Science. Healy Eames was the Fine Gael Seanad Spokesperson on Social Protection until July 2013, when was expelled from the Fine Gael parliamentary party after defying the party whip by voting against the '' Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013''. On 13 September 2013, she and six other expellees formed the Reform Alliance, described as a "loose alliance" rather than a
political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
. In July 2015, during a Seanad debate on a bill to curb online freedom of speech, Healy Eames referred to a "wiffycode" (meaning a
Wi-Fi hotspot A hotspot is a physical location where people can obtain Internet access, typically using Wi-Fi technology, via a wireless local-area network (WLAN) using a router connected to an Internet service provider. Public hotspots may be created by ...
password). A clip of this and the accompanying hashtag "#wiffycode" went viral, and a parody mix was released by radio station Spin 1038. She later stated that she had been using the French pronunciation of Wi-Fi. In March 2016, she announced her intention not to contest the 2016 Seanad election, and plan to resign from politics.


2019 European Parliament election

In May 2019 Healy Eames was an independent candidate in the Midlands–North-West constituency for the
2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peopl ...
. She received 15,991 (2.7%) first preference votes and was not elected.


Controversies

A car belonging to Healy Eames was seized in Galway city on 2 July 2012 for failure to display a valid car disc. She told the ''
Galway Advertiser The ''Galway Advertiser'' is a free newspaper distributed throughout Galway city and county each Thursday. It was the first of the regional newspapers under the "Advertiser" banner, which now also includes publications based in Athlone and Mayo ...
'': "I was using public transport up and down to Dublin and I had neglected the car tax. There is no excuse. I was completely in the wrong". Healy Eames was then fined for boarding the Galway-Dublin train without a ticket on 12 July 2012, 10 days after her car was seized. She was convicted and fined €1,850 for the motor tax offence. In March 2015, she attracted press attention for a tweet in which she claimed that were Ireland to legally recognise same-sex marriage, it could mean an end to the celebration of
Mothers Day Mother's Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family or individual, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on different days in many parts of the world, most commonly in the ...
in the country. As evidence, she claimed that various U.S. states had banned Mothers Day and Fathers Day, referring to it as "
political correctness ''Political correctness'' (adjectivally: ''politically correct''; commonly abbreviated ''PC'') is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in socie ...
gone mad". When critics pointed out that her claim regarding U.S. states was untrue, she retracted that statement, commenting that she meant to refer to a number of U.S. schools. In defending her comments, Healy Eames cited as her source Rense.com, a website run by
Jeff Rense Jeffry Shearer Rense is an American radio talk-show host. His show, the ''Jeff Rense Program'', was broadcast via satellite radio and is now released through his personal website. Rense's radio program and website propagate conspiracy theories, ...
, a conspiracy theorist known for
Holocaust denial Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: ...
, and criticised by the
Anti-Defamation League The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States specializing in civil rights law. It was founded in late Septe ...
. Critics in the Yes campaign accused her of employing
scare tactics ''Scare Tactics'' is an American comedy horror hidden camera television show, produced by Scott Hallock and Kevin Healey. Its first two seasons aired from April 2003 to December 2004. After a hiatus, the show returned for a third season, beginn ...
ahead of the May 2015 referendum on the issue.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Healy Eames, Fidelma 1962 births Living people Alumni of Carysfort College Alumni of the University of Galway Fine Gael senators Independent members of Seanad Éireann Irish schoolteachers Local councillors in County Galway Members of the 23rd Seanad Members of the 24th Seanad 21st-century women members of Seanad Éireann Politicians from County Galway Western Connecticut State University alumni