GAY MITCHELL

'(Gabriel) "Gay" Mitchell' (born December 30, 1951 in Dublin) is an Irish politician and Member of the European Parliament for Dublin since 2004. He is a member of Fine Gael, part of the European People's Party, and a former Teachta Dála for Dublin South Central from 1981–2007.
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Gay Mitchell was born in Inchicore, Dublin in 1951. He was educated at St. Michael's Christian Brothers School, Emmet Road Vocational School, DIT College of Commerce and Queen's University Belfast.
Mitchell first became involved in politics in 1979 as a member of Dublin City Council. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann as Fine Gael TD at the 1981 general election for the Dublin South Central constituency. Since then he has served as a Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Foreign Affairs with special responsibility for European Affairs. He was the Irish Representative on the Reflection Group which prepared the Amsterdam Treaty.
Mitchell is also a former Lord Mayor of Dublin and, while never holding full cabinet rank, has served on the opposition front bench as spokesperson on Health (2000–2002), Foreign Affairs (1997–2000), Justice (1993–1994), Public Service and Constitutional Reform (1991–1992), Tourism and Transport (1989–1991), European Integration (1988–1989), Urban Renewal (1987–1988) and Health Board Reform (1981–1982).
Following Michael Noonan's resignation as Fine Gael leader in 2002, Mitchell was a challenger in the subsequent leadership election, losing out to the victor, Enda Kenny. Before his election to the European parliament, Mitchell had been party spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, writing the party's "Beyond Neutrality" policy document. In November 2006, Mitchell announced that he had taken the difficult decision not to contest the 2007 general election and concentrate on his European seat.^[1]
His late brother Jim was a long-serving Fine Gael TD and former government minister.

Contents

Political career

References

See also

External links

Political career

References

1. Fox & Mitchell not standing in election – ''RTÉ News'' article, 24 November, 2006.

See also

★ Families in the Oireachtas

External links

★ Gay Mitchell's page on the Fine Gael website

★ Gay Mitchell's page on the European Parliament website

★ Gay Mitchell's electoral history (ElectionsIreland.org)