Biography

Constituency:
Galway West

Euro Electoral Region:
Ireland North West

Electoral Status:
Michael D is currently a sitting TD for Galway West .

Address:
Aimhirgin
Circular Road
Rahoon
Galway

Tel:
Constituency Office
Phone: 091 524 513/ 091 528 500 Fax: 091 528 501

Dáil office
Phone: 01 618 3268/ 01 618 3486 Fax: 01 618 4586

Lo-call number: 1890 337 889

Email:
michaeld.higgins@oireachtas.ie

Political Career:

Re-Elected to Dáil Eireann following General Election in 2007
Elected President of the Labour Party in May 2003.
Party Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs.
Opposition Convenor of Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Party Spokesperson on Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands 1997-2000
Former member of the Joint Committee on Heritage and the Irish Language
Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht January 1993 -1997
Elected to Dail Eireann in 1981. Re-Elected in 1987
Member of Seanad Eireann 1973-1977 and 1982-1987
Former member of Galway County Council and an Alderman of Galway Borough Council (1974-1993). He has twice been Mayor of Galway.
Chairman of the Labour Party 1977-1987

Occupation:

Fulltime public representative. Honorary Adjunct Professor at Large in Political Science and Sociology at the National University of Ireland, Galway, and former Visiting Professor at the University of Southern Illinois.

Memberships:

Michael D Higgins has been a member of Galway Corporation and Galway County Council. He was twice Mayor of Galway and a Member of Galway Regional Development Board, the Western Health Board, and was Chairman of the Galway/Mayo Regional Arts Committee.
He has been a Member of the Governing Body of University College, Galway. He was Chairman of Galway County Council Board 1980-1985. He is a Member of the Sociological Association of Ireland and the American Sociological Association.
He has been a Patron of several national organisations, including Amnesty International.

Other Interests:

Author and Poet:
Michael D. Higgins has contributed widely to political and philosophical journals on many subjects including Ideology, The Sociology of Literature, Clientism in Politics, Regionalism and The Politics of the Media.
He wrote and presented a television film on Montserrat, entitled "The Other Emerald Isle" for Channel 4 and his documentary on the life of Dr. Noel Browne, for RTE, has also been screened.
He has read his poetry on radio and television in Ireland the abroad. He has had poems published in a number of periodicals and his first collection of poems, "The Betrayal", was published in 1990. His second book of poems "The Season of Fire" was published in 1993, and his third collection "An Arid Season" was published by New Island in February 2004.
A selection of his writing, speeches and academic work, "Causes for Concern" was published by Liberties Press in November 2006.
He is currently preparing a new academic work on political theory and practice, emphasising the necessity for an integrated approach and stressing the hegemony of values.
Human Rights:
Activist: Michael D Higgins has campaigned for human rights and written of conflict in many parts of the world, including such areas as Turkey, Western Sahara, Nicaragua, Chile, Gaza, The West Bank, Peru, El Salvador, Iraq and Somalia. He attended the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro where he collaborated in the making of two documentary films. In recognition of his work for peace with justice in many parts of the world, he became the first recipient of the Sean MacBride Peace Prize of the International Peace Bureau in Helsinki in 1992. He has been an active feminist for all of his political life.

Family Background: