Jim Higgins (Irish politician)

For other people named Jim Higgins, see Jim Higgins (disambiguation).

Jim Higgins MEP
File:Jim Higgins, Member of the European Parliament for Ireland North West.pdf
Member of the European Parliament
Incumbent
Assumed office June 2004
Constituency	North–West
Teachta Dála
In office February 1987 – May 2002
Constituency	Mayo Mayo East (1987–97)
Senator
In office September 2002 – July 2007
In office February 1983 – February 1987
Constituency	Labour Panel
In office October 1981 – April 1982
Constituency	Nominated by the Taoiseach
Personal details
Born	(1945-05-04) 4 May 1945 Ballyhaunis, County Mayo
Nationality	Irish
Political party	Fine Gael
Alma mater	University College Galway
Website	Official website

Jim Higgins (born 4 May 1945) is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has served as a member of Seanad Éireann, Dáil Éireann, and is a Member of the European Parliament for the North–West constituency since 2004.

Early life

He was born in Ballyhaunis, County Mayo in 1945. He was educated at St. Jarlath's College, Tuam and at University College Galway. He was twice named Best Individual Speaker at the Junior Chamber Ireland debating championships (1978, 1979) and was the captain of the International Tripartite Debating Team. Higgins worked as a secondary school teacher before becoming involved in local politics.

Jim Higgins (born 4 May 1945) is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has served as a member of Seanad Éireann, Dáil Éireann and the European Parliament.

Background:

He was born in Ballyhaunis, County Mayo in 1945. He was educated at St. Jarlath's College, Tuam and at University College Galway. He was twice named Best Individual Speaker at the Junior Chamber Ireland debating championships (1978, 1979) and was the captain of the International Tripartite Debating Team. Higgins worked as a secondary school teacher before becoming involved in local politics.

Mayo County Council:

He served as a member of Mayo County Council from 1979-1995, acting as Vice-Chairman of the Council from 1980-1981.

Career in Irish Politics:

He first ran for Dáil Éireann in the 1981 general election, but was unsuccessful. However, he was nominated by the then Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald to the 15th Seanad Éireann. Jim was subsequently elected on the Labour Panel in 1983, where he served until 1987. He lost his Seanad seat in 1982 but was elected to the 17th Seanad by the Labour Panel in 1983, remaining in the upper house until 1987. He was successful at the 1987 general election, winning a seat in the 25th Dáil as a Fine Gael Teachta Dála (TD) for Mayo East. He was re-elected to the Dáil in 1989, 1992 and 1997.

Campaigns:

In 1987 as Justice, Equality and Law Reform Spokesman he brought to the Dáil's attention the 'Sheedy Affair' which led to the forced resignation of judges from the High Court Judge and the Supreme Court. For over two years he brought to the Dáil the case of the extended McBrearty family who were wrongly accused of murder. He raised allegations of Garda corruption in County Donegal which led to the establishment of the ongoing Morris Tribunal of Inquiry. He was also responsible for bringing before the Dáil a £30 million overspend by the state transport company Iarnród Éireann on a safety signalling system which led to the establishment of an all-party parliamentary inquiry.

In 1994 the Rainbow Coalition of Fine Gael, Labour Party and Democratic Left came to power and Higgins was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Finance. The following year he became Minister of State at the Departments of the Taoiseach and Defence, as well as Chief Whip of the government. He remained in that position until a Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats coalition took office after the 1997 general election.

Like many of his Fine Gael colleagues at the 2002 general election, Higgins lost his seat in the Mayo constituency. However, he was elected to Seanad Éireann by the Labour Panel, becoming a member of the 22nd Seanad.

North West Constituency:

In the 2004 European Parliament election Higgins ran as a Fine Gael / EPP–ED candidate for the North–West constituency. The Ireland's North West constituency consists of eleven Counties from all four provinces; Ulster, Connaught and Munster and Leinster. It includes counties Donegal, Cavan, Monaghan, Leitrim, Sligo, Mayo, Roscommon, Galway, Clare, Westmeath and Longford. The Constituency is allocated three seats in the European Parliament out of Ireland's current total of 12.

Career as an MEP:

Jim was elected to the European Parliament in 2004 to serve as Member of the European Parliament for the North-West Ireland constituency and was re-elected in June 2009 for a second consecutive term. Jim is quoted as saying: "I am honoured and proud to have been elected by the people of the North-West Constituency to represent them in the European Parliament."

Fine Gael is now the largest Irish political party in Europe with four Fine Gael MEPs currently in office. Fine Gael has been affiliated with the European Peoples' Party (EPP) since 1973. The EPP is currently the majority party in the parliament.

An Ghaeilge

Jim is a prominent Irish language activist in the European Parliament. Following the recognition of Gaeilge as a European language in 2007 Jim has made 97% of his speeches to the plenary session of the European Parliament in Irish.

Committees:

At the European Parliament, Jim serves as Member of the Committee on Transport and Tourism. In this capacity he has worked on multiple issues such as road safety, aviation safety, airline ticketing policy, provision of rail and the tolling of HGVs. The provision of better transport infrastructure for the region and the fight on road safety are two of his key goals during this parliamentary term.

He is a substitute Member of Petitions Committee. One of the fundamental rights of European citizens is to exercise their right of petition to the European Parliament. Any citizen of the European Union, or resident in a Member State, may, individually or in association with others, submit a petition to the European Parliament on a subject which comes within the European Union's fields of activity and which affects them directly. A petition may take the form of a complaint or a request and may relate to issues of public or private interest. The petition may present an individual request, a complaint or observation concerning the application of EU law or an appeal to the European Parliament to adopt a position on a specific matter. Such petitions give the European Parliament the opportunity of calling attention to any infringement of a European citizen's rights by a Member State or local authorities or other institution.

Recently, Jim worked with the Farren, Gallagher and Keane families regarding the tragic loss of their daughters in three Irish road traffic accidents arising from road conditions. Their cases were referred to the Transport Committee which he is a full member of, there he hopes to prepare a report on local road conditions and to pressurise the Irish government to introduce road safety audits for local roads.

Jim Higgins is also a substituent member of the Fisheries Committee. His goals include; to increase the monitoring of foreign vessels entering Irish Waters and ensure that other countries monitor catches landed in the ports to detect illegal fishing in Irish Waters, to ensure that Fishermen have more control over the quota system and Ireland gets a Quota in line with its Ocean Resources, to secure adequate funding for job diversification in fishing communities, to develop the potential of the seafood industry for the North and West Coast and see that no decisions are made without full cooperation with Fishermen and Scientists.

Higgins' other duties include membership of the EU-Chile Joint Parliamentary Committee, the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly and he is a substitute member of the Delegation for Relations with Japan.

Quaestor:

Jim is one of only five MEPs to hold the position of Quaestor. He was elected by other parliamentarians in the European Parliament to this position. The role of Quaestor is one which Jim will hold for a period of two and a half years, and he will be responsible for administrative and fiscal issues of direct relevance to Members. As a Quaestor, Jim also sits on the Bureau of the Parliament with the President and fourteen Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament.

External links

• Jim Higgins's official website
• Jim Higgins's page on the Fine Gael website
• European Parliament profile