Regina Doherty

Regina Doherty (née Dalton; born 26 January 1971) is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has served as Leader of Seanad Éireann and 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 previously 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
Leader of Seanad Éireann
Assumed office
29 June 2020
TaoiseachMicheál Martin
DeputyLisa Chambers
Preceded byJerry Buttimer
Leader of Fine Gael in the Seanad
Assumed office
29 June 2020
LeaderMicheál Martin
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
Government Chief Whip
In office
6 May 2016 – 14 June 2017
TaoiseachEnda Kenny
Preceded byPaul Kehoe
Succeeded byJoe McHugh
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
NationalityIrish
Political partyFine Gael
Spouse(s)
Declan Doherty
​
(m. 1997)​
Children4
Alma mater
Websitereginadoherty.ie

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 to the cabinet as Government Chief Whip.[7]

In July 2017, Doherty confirmed[8] 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,[9] which referenced Regina Doherty.[10] 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 Ms Doherty or publish any material relevant to her again.[11] On 14 June 2017, she was appointed Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. 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”.[12]

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.[13] In May 2018, Doherty participated in the Opening Plenary Session - Listening Today for Better Social Policies Tomorrow, in the OECD Policy forum in Canada.[14]

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.[15] Also in January 2019, Doherty was appointed director of elections for Fine Gael for the 2019 European elections.[16]

COVID-19 response

Doherty was appointed to the Cabinet Sub-Committee on COVID-19, it published a National Action Plan on 16 March.[17] On 16 March 2020, Doherty announced the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment of €350.00, which would be available for six weeks.[18]

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.[19] 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.[20]

Seanad Éireann

In June 2020, she was nominated by the Taoiseach Micheál Martin, and also appointed Leader of the Seanad.[21]

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.[22]

Business

In January 2013, her IT consultancy company went into liquidation with debts of €280,000, including €60,000 due to the Revenue Commissioners.[23]

References
  1. "Regina Doherty". The Phoenix. 9 March 2017.
  2. "Regina Doherty". Oireachtas Members Database. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  3. "Regina Doherty". ElectionsIreland.org. 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. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  6. O'Halloran, Marie (23 March 2016). "Ceann Comhairle hopeful on 'substantial' reforms in next Dáil sitting". The Irish Times. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  7. "Regina Doherty of Meath East is the new Chief Whip", independent.ie, 6 May 2016
  8. "Doherty protests blogger to gardai" journal.ie 3 July 2017
  9. "Chilling" broadsheet.ie, 3 July 2017
  10. McGee, Harry; Gallagher, Conor; O'Regan, Michael (6 July 2017). "Blogger considers legal action over Garda caution at airport". The Irish Times.
  11. "Academic who wrote about minister 'stopped' at airport". 6 July 2017 – via www.rte.ie. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  12. Minihan, Mary. "Regina Doherty to repay €15,800 allowance". The Irish Times.
  13. "Irish Teens And Non-Binary People Should Have Right To Self-Identify Says Minister". GCN. 9 January 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  14. "Policy Forum - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development". www.oecd.org. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  15. ""Irish Independent"".
  16. "Doherty appointed FG director of elections for European poll". Meath Chronicle. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  17. "Covid-19: Cabinet sub-committee meets to discuss lockdown restrictions". BreakingNews.ie. 2 April 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  18. Burke, Ceimin (16 March 2020). "Pandemic unemployment payment set up to help people out of work due to coronavirus closures". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  19. "Social welfare payments to be paid fortnightly, says Doherty". The Irish Times. 19 March 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  20. Daly, Adam (17 April 2020). "Birth registrations move online as 4,000 babies go unregistered due to Covid-19 restrictions". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  21. "Taoiseach Micheál Martin announces his 11 Seanad nominees". The Journal. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  22. "Fine Gael's Regina Doherty to run for Fingal seat in constituency switch-up". Irish Independent. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  23. O'Donovan, Donal; Kelly, Fiach (23 January 2013). "Fine Gael TD's firm folds with debts of €280,000". Irish Independent. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
Oireachtas
Preceded by
Thomas Byrne
(Fianna Fáil)		 Fine Gael Teachta Dála for Meath East
2011–2020		 Succeeded by
Darren O'Rourke
(Sinn Féin)
Political offices
Preceded by
Paul Kehoe		 Government Chief Whip
2016–2017		 Succeeded by
Joe McHugh
Preceded by
Leo Varadkar
as Minister for Social Protection		 Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection
2017–2020		 Succeeded by
Heather Humphreys
as Minister for Social Protection
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