Ciarán Cuffe

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Ciarán Cuffe
Ciaran Cuffe.jpg
Dublin City Councillor
Assumed office
May 2014
Constituency North Inner City
Minister of State
for Horticulture, Sustainable Travel
and Planning and Heritage
In office
23 March 2010 – 23 January 2011
Teachta Dála
In office
May 2002 – February 2011
Constituency Dún Laoghaire
Personal details
Born (1963-04-03) 3 April 1963 (age 61)
Shankill, County Dublin
Nationality Irish
Political party Green Party
Alma mater University of Maine,
University College Dublin,
University of Venice
Website www.ciarancuffe.com

Ciarán Cuffe (born 3 April 1963) is an Irish Green Party politician, an architect and a lecturer in planning. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dún Laoghaire constituency from 2002 to 2011, and served as Minister of State for Horticulture; Sustainable Travel; and Planning and Heritage from 2010 to 2011.[1]

Background

He was born in Shankill, Dublin. His mother was Ethel Skakel Kennedy's sister. His cousins include the children of Skakel and Robert F. Kennedy.[2] His granduncle was the Fianna Fáil TD Patrick Little.[3]

Education

Cuffe attended the Children's House Montessori School in Stillorgan, Gonzaga College in Ranelagh, the University of Maine at Orono, University College Dublin, and the University of Venice. He has degrees in architecture and town planning from University College Dublin. He lectures in urban planning at the Dublin Institute of Technology, Bolton Street.

Early political activism

He joined the Green Party in 1982, and campaigned with Students Against the Destruction of Dublin in the 1980s. Cuffe was twice elected to Dublin City Council in 1991 and 1999 for the South Inner City electoral area.[4]

He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Dublin Central constituency at the 1997 general election, but was elected to Dáil Éireann at the 2002 general election for the Dún Laoghaire constituency.

In June 2003, he stepped down as the Green party's environment spokesperson after it was revealed that he held shares worth $70,000 in a number of oil exploration companies which he had inherited when his late mother had left him $1.3 million in her will.[5] He was re-elected at the 2007 general election.[4][6]

In government

Following the 2007 Irish general election, the Irish Green Party formed a coalition government with two other political parties and a number of independent TDs.

Just after the general election on 28 May 2007, he wrote on his blog: "A deal with Fianna Fáil would be a deal with the Devil. We would be spat out after 5 years, and decimated as a party".[7]

On 23 March 2010, following a cabinet reshuffle, he was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Department of Transport and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government with special responsibility for Horticulture; Sustainable Travel; and Planning and Heritage.[8]

While Cuffe was in office, the Oireachtas enacted the Planning & Development (Amendment) Act 2010 to address land-use planning failures and over-zoning of development land.[9] The legislation reformed the way development plans and local area plans are made and, for the first time in Irish legislation included a definition of 'Anthropogenic Climate Change' and required energy use to be taken into account in planning decisions. He also published an update of the National Spatial Strategy.

He promoted healthy eating for children, school gardens and local markets. He published bills to address climate change and noise pollution, and heritage protection. In January 2011, he launched a new policy to allow bicycles on off-peak DART trains.[10]

He resigned as Minister of State on 23 January 2011 when the Green Party withdrew from government.[11] He lost his seat at the 2011 general election.

At the 2014 local elections he was elected to Dublin City Council on the 13th count for Dublin North Inner City area.[12]

References

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External links

Oireachtas
Preceded by Green Party Teachta Dála for Dún Laoghaire
2002–2011		 Succeeded by
Constituency reduced by one seat
Political offices
New office Minister of State
for Horticulture, Sustainable Travel
and Planning and Heritage
2010–2011		 Succeeded by
Office abolished
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  12. ↑ http://www.irishtimes.com/news/elections/local-elections/dublin-city
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