LIMERICK native Niamh Hourigan has been selected as the Labour Party candidate in the Ireland South constituency for the upcoming European Parliament elections.
Niamh is the vice-president of academic affairs at Mary Immaculate College and has previously worked as a sociologist in University College Cork and the University of Limerick.
She is currently a member of the Teaching Council, a member of the board of the Central Applications Office (CAO), and a member of the Irish Department of Justice’s Review Team of Civil Legal Aid.
Ms Hourigan also worked as a journalist and radio presenter while completing her PhD, and is a frequent contributor to national and local media on themes of sociological interest.
A mother of two, she is the daughter of former Mayor of Limerick, Michael Hourigan, and sister of Green Party TD Neasa Hourigan.
After her nomination at a convention in the Metropole Hotel in Cork City, Ms Hourigan said she was honoured to have been chosen to “hopefully help bring the Labour voice to Europe”.
Her priorities include fighting for a just transition to a greener economy, introducing a European plan for affordable housing, and protecting Irish neutrality.
“I have spent most of my career working within the Ireland South constituency and during that time I have worked intensively to draw attention to inequality and social exclusion through my research and my contributions to the media,” Ms Hourigan said.
Speaking on her European ambitions, she said: “Our daily lives are increasingly governed by European policy and protocols and for the past 10 years, those who support the Labour voice and the Labour perspective in Ireland South have had no-one to represent them in Europe.”
“In this particularly politically fractious time, incensed by global conflict, climate change, and significant crises in housing and the cost-of-living, I believe I can be the Labour voice in Europe and can fight to push these crucial policies at a European level.”
