Déirdre de Búrca

Déirdre de Búrca
Senator
In office 3 August 2007 – 12 February 2010
Constituency	Nominated by the Taoiseach
Personal details
Born	October 1963 (age 53) County Cork, Ireland
Nationality	Irish
Political party	Green Party
Alma mater	Carysfort College, University College Dublin

Déirdre de Búrca (born October 1963) is an Irish former Green Party politician. She had represented the party on Wicklow County Council and Bray Town Council from 1999 to 2007 and in Seanad Éireann from 2007 until her resignation from the parliamentary party in 2010.

Born in County Cork, she grew up in Loughlinstown, County Dublin, where she attended Ursuline Convent, Cabinteely (now Cabinteely Community School), and Carysfort College where she qualified as a primary school teacher. She later studied psychology at University College Dublin and worked for Rehab Ireland as a psychologist.

She was previously an elected member of Wicklow County Council and Bray Town Council for the Green Party. She was first elected in 1999 for the Bray district, and was returned with an increased vote in 2004, when she was also returned to the Town Council.

De Búrca attracted controversy when it was found she was recording a meeting of Wicklow county council. She claimed the meetings were being held in an undemocratic fashion, and councillors were not sufficiently accountable, particularly in relation to planning and rezoning decisions.

She ran for election to Dáil Éireann on two occasions but was not elected: at the 2002 general election for the Wicklow constituency, and also at the 2007 general election in the same constituency.

She unsuccessfully contested the 2009 European Parliament election for the Dublin constituency.

She was nominated by the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to Seanad Éireann on 3 August 2007 as part of an agreement made by the Green Party under the Programme for Government. She was also appointed as a member of Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs.

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