Regina Doherty

Regina Doherty (née Dalton; born 26 January 1971) is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has served as Deputy leader of Seanad Éireann since 2022. She was Leader of the Seanad from 2020 to 2022, and is Leader of Fine Gael in the Seanad since June 2020. She has been a Senator since June 2020, after being nominated by the Taoiseach. She served as Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection from 2017 to 2020 and Government Chief Whip from 2016 to 2017. She was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Meath East constituency from 2011 to 2020.[2]

Senator
Regina Doherty
Doherty in October 2018
Deputy leader of Seanad Éireann
Assumed office
17 December 2022
TaoiseachLeo Varadkar
LeaderLisa Chambers
Preceded byLisa Chambers
Leader of the Seanad
In office
29 June 2020 – 17 December 2022
TaoiseachMicheál Martin
DeputyLisa Chambers
Preceded byJerry Buttimer
Succeeded byLisa Chambers
Leader of Fine Gael in the Seanad
Assumed office
29 June 2020
LeaderLeo Varadkar
Preceded byJerry Buttimer
Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection
In office
14 June 2017 – 27 June 2020
TaoiseachLeo Varadkar
Preceded byLeo Varadkar
Succeeded byHeather Humphreys
Minister of State
2016–2017Government Chief Whip
Senator
Assumed office
29 June 2020
ConstituencyNominated by the Taoiseach
Teachta Dála
In office
February 2011 – February 2020
ConstituencyMeath East
Personal details
Born
Regina Dalton[1]

(1971-01-26) 26 January 1971
Finglas, Dublin, Ireland
Political partyFine Gael
Spouse
Declan Doherty
​
(m. 1997)​
Children4
Alma mater

Political career

Doherty was a member of the Meath County Council for the Dunshaughlin local electoral area from 2009 to 2011.[3] She was a member of the Oireachtas committees for Health, Finance and the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement during the 31st Dáil. She was also a member of the Constitutional Convention,[4] and was the Chairperson of the Fine Gael committee for health and children. In May 2015, following the claims of IRA involvement of the cover-up of sexual abuse by Máiría Cahill, she was provided with names of a number of alleged abusers which she passed on to the Gardaí who are investigating the issue.[5] She was re-elected to the Dáil at the 2016 general election. She was appointed to the new Dáil reform committee on 22 March 2016.[6] Following the formation of a Fine Gael minority government in May 2016, Doherty was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach with responsibility as Government Chief Whip, in attendance at cabinet.[7][8][9]

On 14 June 2017, she was appointed Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

In July 2017, Doherty confirmed[10] that she had lodged a complaint with the Garda Síochána against political blogger and academic Catherine Kelly. Kelly said that she was cautioned by Gardaí about her social media posts and online articles,[11] which referenced Regina Doherty.[12] In the Dáil, it was stated that a U.S.-based academic experienced a "sinister and chilling experience" in an Irish airport where she was detained by gardaí and told not to tweet about Doherty or publish any material relevant to her again.[13] In September 2017, it was revealed that she was going to repay an "unlawful" allowance of €15,800 that she received as Government Chief Whip in direct contravention of the law which states that "no allowance can be paid to a party whip if the person is a Minister or Minister of State".[14]

In January 2018, Doherty announced the launch of the consultation process under the review of the Gender Recognition Act 2015, to further expanding the Gender Recognition Act to include those under 18 and non-binary people.[15] In May 2018, Doherty participated in the Opening Plenary Session - Listening Today for Better Social Policies Tomorrow, in the OECD Policy forum in Canada.[16]

In January 2019, Doherty briefed the Irish Cabinet, warning that while her department was well fixed to pass emergency legislation to continue social welfare payments in the event of Brexit, the UK may not be. It is understood that the British Government has agreed in principle to continue all payments, although the then Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Amber Rudd, has been unable to guarantee that the necessary legislation will be passed by 29 March 2019.[17] Also in January 2019, Doherty was appointed director of elections for Fine Gael for the 2019 European elections.[18]

COVID-19 response

Doherty was appointed to the Cabinet Sub-Committee on COVID-19, it published a National Action Plan on 16 March.[19] On 16 March 2020, Doherty announced the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment of €350.00, which would be available for six weeks.[20]

On 19 March 2020, Doherty announced that all welfare would be distributed each fortnight instead of the traditional weekly, so as to limit the number of people gathering in post offices.[21] On 17 April, she announced that the General Register Office has put arrangements in place for parents to send in their birth registration forms by email or post. Up to then, parents could only register the births of their children by visiting a General Register Office in person, a practice in place since 1864, when the first birth was registered.[22]

In December 2021, Doherty opposed a motion calling on the government to support a TRIPS waiver on COVID-19 vaccine technology. Doherty withdrew her counter-motion following opposition from within the government coalition.[23]

Seanad Éireann

At the general election in February 2020, Doherty was defeated in her Meath East constituency, losing to Darren O'Rourke of Sinn Féin, while her Fine Gael colleague Helen McEntee (Minister of State for European Affairs) was re-elected.[24][25][26]

Nationally, Fine Gael lost twelve of its 47 seats in the election. When the 33rd Dáil assembled on 20 February 2020 to elect a Taoiseach, none of the nominees was elected. Leo Varadkar resigned as Taoiseach, but under Article 28.11.2º of the Constitution, all members of the government continued to hold office until the appointment of their successors. Doherty therefore continued as Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection until the appointment of Micheál Martin as Taoiseach on 27 June, at the head of a three-part coalition government comprising Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party. On the same day, she was nominated by the Taoiseach to the Seanad, and also appointed as Leader of the Seanad.[27] Her role is to direct government business in the Seanad.[28]

Move to Dublin Fingal

In September 2020, it was announced that Doherty would seek Fine Gael's nomination to contest the next general election in the Dublin Fingal constituency. According to Doherty, she has connections to the area, with family in north County Dublin and having bought her first home in Swords, Dublin.[29][30]

Business

In January 2013, her IT consultancy company went into liquidation with debts of €280,000, including €60,000 due to the Revenue Commissioners.[31]

References
  1. "Regina Doherty". The Phoenix. 9 March 2017. Archived from the original on 26 October 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  2. "Regina Doherty". Oireachtas Members Database. Archived from the original on 23 August 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  3. "Regina Doherty". ElectionsIreland.org. Archived from the original on 26 February 2011. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  4. Kelly, Tom (27 November 2012). "Doherty to take part in Constitutional Convention". yourforum.ie. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  5. Sheehan, Maeve (30 May 2015). "Gardai now probe leaks about IRA sex abusers". Irish Independent. Dublin. Archived from the original on 23 December 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  6. O'Halloran, Marie (23 March 2016). "Ceann Comhairle hopeful on 'substantial' reforms in next Dáil sitting". The Irish Times. Dublin. Archived from the original on 9 June 2021. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  7. "Appointment of Ministers of State" (PDF). Iris Oifigiúil. 2016 (39): 653–654. 13 May 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 November 2017. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  8. Irish Independent [@independent_ie] (6 May 2016). "Regina Doherty of Meath East is the new Chief Whip" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 9 June 2021 – via Twitter.
  9. Statistics (Delegation of Ministerial Functions) Order 2016 (S.I. No. 316 of 2016). Signed on 14 June 2016. Statutory Instrument of the Government of Ireland. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book on 26 March 2021.
  10. "Fine Gael minister confirms complaint lodged with gardaí against political blogger". TheJournal.ie. 3 July 2017. Archived from the original on 6 July 2017.
  11. "Chilling". broadsheet.ie. 3 July 2017. Archived from the original on 3 July 2017. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
  12. McGee, Harry; Gallagher, Conor; O'Regan, Michael (6 July 2017). "Blogger considers legal action over Garda caution at airport". The Irish Times. Dublin. Archived from the original on 7 July 2017. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  13. "Dáil told gardaí spoke to US academic who wrote about minister". RTÉ News. 6 July 2017. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020.
  14. Minihan, Mary. "Regina Doherty to repay €15,800 allowance". The Irish Times. Dublin. Archived from the original on 9 June 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  15. Donohoe, Katie (9 January 2018). "Irish Teens And Non-Binary People Should Have Right To Self-Identify Says Minister". Gay Community News. Dublin. Archived from the original on 2 August 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  16. "Policy Forum - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development". www.oecd.org. Archived from the original on 24 January 2019. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  17. Williams, Paul (24 January 2019). "Hundreds of gardai to patrol border in Ireland if UK crashes out of EU". Belfast Telegraph. Archived from the original on 5 February 2019.
  18. Casey, Ann (17 January 2019). "Doherty appointed FG director of elections for European poll". Meath Chronicle. Navan. Archived from the original on 9 June 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  19. "Covid-19: Cabinet sub-committee meets to discuss lockdown restrictions". Irish Examiner. Cork. 2 April 2020. Archived from the original on 9 June 2021. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  20. Burke, Ceimin (16 March 2020). "Pandemic unemployment payment set up to help people out of work due to coronavirus closures". TheJournal.ie. Archived from the original on 9 June 2021. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  21. "Social welfare payments to be paid fortnightly, says Doherty". The Irish Times. Dublin. 19 March 2020. Archived from the original on 9 June 2021. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  22. Daly, Adam (17 April 2020). "Birth registrations move online as 4,000 babies go unregistered due to Covid-19 restrictions". TheJournal.ie. Archived from the original on 9 May 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  23. "Seanad passes motion over Covid-19 vaccine waiver". RTE News. 15 December 2021. Archived from the original on 16 December 2021.
  24. Bowers, Shauna (10 February 2020) [9 February 2020]. "Meath East results: SF tops the poll while FG's Regina Doherty loses seat; Minister for Social Protection comes in fifth in three-seater". The Irish Times. Dublin. Archived from the original on 9 June 2021. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  25. "Election 2020: Meath East". The Irish Times. Dublin. 10 February 2020. Archived from the original on 9 June 2021. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  26. McCrave, Conor (10 February 2020). "How FG tried and failed to keep two outgoing ministers in one constituency". TheJournal.ie. Archived from the original on 19 October 2020. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  27. McCrave, Conor. "Taoiseach Micheál Martin announces his 11 Seanad nominees". TheJournal.ie. Archived from the original on 5 June 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  28. "Seanad Éireann". How Parliament works. Oireachtas. 10 April 2018. Archived from the original on 11 October 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
  29. O'Connell, Hugh (27 September 2020). "Fine Gael's Regina Doherty to run for Fingal seat in constituency switch-up". Irish Independent. Dublin. Archived from the original on 2 April 2021. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  30. Kenny, Aisling (15 November 2020). "'I thought no I can't give up yet' - Senator Regina Doherty on losing her seat in the General Election". RTÉ News. Archived from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  31. O'Donovan, Donal; Kelly, Fiach (23 January 2013). "Fine Gael TD's firm folds with debts of €280,000". Irish Independent. Dublin. Archived from the original on 10 November 2014. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
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