Ruth Coppinger
| Ruth Coppinger TD |
|
|---|---|
| Teachta Dála | |
| Assumed office 23 May 2014 |
|
| Constituency | Dublin West |
| Fingal County Councillor | |
| In office June 2004 – May 2014 |
|
| Constituency | Mulhuddart |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 18 April 1967 Dublin, Ireland |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Political party | Socialist Party |
| Spouse(s) | Imran Khan |
| Children | 1 |
Ruth Coppinger is an Irish Socialist Party politician for Dublin West, who was elected as a Teachta Dála (TD) at the 2014 Dublin West by-election. She was re-elected at the 2016 general election and became the first woman to be nominated for the role of Taoiseach.
Political career
Coppinger was a member of Fingal County Council for the Mulhuddart area from 2003 to 2014.[1] She was co-opted to the council in 2003, replacing Joe Higgins. She was elected in 2004 and re-elected in 2009. She was an unsuccessful candidate at the 2011 Dublin West by-election.[1]
She later joined party colleague Joe Higgins in the Dáil as a result of the 2014 by-election in the same constituency.[2][3] On being elected, she called for a mass campaign of opposition to water charges being imposed by the Fine Gael-Labour Party coalition.[4]
In September 2015, she joined homeless families from Blanchardstown in occupying a Nama-controlled property as part of a campaign to raise awareness of the housing crisis.[5] In October 2015, she joined families in their occupation of a show house in her constituency to protest at the lack of availability of affordable social housing.[6] She has also supported the tenants of Tyrrelstown who were made homeless when a Goldman Sachs vulture fund sold their houses.[7][8][9][10][11]
On 21 January 2016, Coppinger's house was burgled - she told RTÉ the following day: "When I arrived home at nine o'clock last night, the house had been rifled through."[12][13]
She was re-elected to the Dáil at the 2016 general election, this time under the Anti-Austerity Alliance–People Before Profit banner.[14] On 10 March 2016, at the first sitting of the 32nd Dáil, she nominated Richard Boyd Barrett for the role of Taoiseach, quoting James Connolly from a hundred years previously when she said: "The day has passed for patching up the capitalist system. It must go" and declaring: "We will not vote for the identical twin candidates" of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil after they "imposed austerity".[15] On 6 April 2016, following the failure of the Dáil to elect a Taoiseach at that first sitting, she herself was nominated for the role of Taoiseach, becoming the first woman to achieve this in the history of the state.[16][17][18][19]
Personal life
Coppinger lives in Mulhuddart. She is married to Imran Khan[20] and is a secondary school teacher.[21] Her eldest brother Eugene Coppinger serves on Fingal County Council.[22]
References
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External links
- Coppinger, Ruth. "Resentment over property tax is palpable", The Irish Times. 14 May 2014
| Oireachtas | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Socialist Party Teachta Dála for Dublin West 2014–present |
Incumbent |
