Clare Daly

Clare Daly (born 16 April 1968) is an Irish politician who has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Ireland for the Dublin constituency since July 2019.

She is a member of Independents 4 Change, part of The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL.

In the 1980s Daly was a member of the Labour Party as a teenager but was later expelled alongside other members after being accused of being Trotskyists infiltrating the party using the tactic of entryism.

She was subsequently a founding member of "Militant Labour", later known as the Socialist Party.

A member of Labour's Militant Tendency, she was expelled from the party in 1989 alongside Joe Higgins and other supporters of the faction after they were accused of being Trotskyists infiltrating the party using the tactic of entryism.

At first calling themselves Militant Labour, in 1996 they formed the Socialist Party.

She first ran for a seat in Dáil Éireann at the 1997 general election, receiving 7.2% on that occasion and 8.2% at the 1998 Dublin North by-election.

In 1999 she was elected to Fingal County Council, a position she held for 12 years.

Daly was elected as a Fingal County Councillor for the Swords area in the 1999 local elections.

At the 2002 general election she received 5,501 votes (12.5%), narrowly missing a seat.

In 2003, Daly was jailed for a month, alongside 21 others from the Anti-Bin Tax Campaign for breaching a High Court order preventing protests leading to obstruction of the council's non-collection policy for those not paying bin charges.

She was re-elected at the 2004 local elections and the 2009 local elections, topping the poll on each occasion.

At the 2007 general election she received 9% of the vote.

Daly was elected as a Socialist Party TD for the Dublin North constituency at the 2011 general election.

in 2011, she announced that she would not register to pay a new household charge brought in as part of the latest austerity budget, calling it "reprehensible", and telling Phil Hogan, the minister responsible, in the Dáil: "You can't bring everyone to court".

She was eventually elected to Dáil Éireann at the 2011 general election, taking 15.2% of the first preference vote.

During the presidential election campaign later that year, Daly and Higgins committed themselves to supporting the nomination of independent candidate David Norris in his search for the 20 Oireachtas members necessary for inclusion on the ballot paper.

Since 2012, Daly has had a close political association with Mick Wallace.

After Wallace was condemned by the Socialist Party for tax evasion, Daly resigned from the party in August 2012 and redesignated herself as a United Left Alliance TD. In 2015 she joined Independents 4 Change.

Since becoming an MEP, Daly has gained international attention for her foreign policy positions, particularly on Russia and China.

Her views have been the subject of controversy and criticism in Europe, but have been promoted by state-controlled media in Russia, China, Syria, and other authoritarian states.

Daly is from Newbridge, County Kildare.

Her father, Kevin Daly, was a colonel in the Irish Army, where he was Director of Signals.

She is an atheist, while her brother and an uncle are Catholic priests.

Daly studied accountancy at Dublin City University (DCU).

She was twice elected president of the Students' Union and was active in the students' movement as a campaigner for abortion rights and information.

On leaving college she took a job in the catering section of Aer Lingus on a low wage, and became SIPTU's shop steward at Dublin Airport when the airline was engaged in extensive cost-cutting and outsourcing.

Daly initially joined the Labour Party, where she was elected to the party's Administrative Committee as a youth representative.

In February 2012, it was reported that she would introduce a bill to provide for limited access to abortion where there is "real and substantial risk to the life" of the pregnant woman, in line with the X Case.

The bill was defeated before its second reading on 19 April 2012.

In 2012, Daly used travel expenses to cover expenses related to her attendance at anti-household charge meetings around the country.

Daly said that legal advice was being sought as there was a lack of clarity around the issue and that she would refund any money that was used inappropriately.

In June of that same year, Daly refused to call for the resignation of her friend and political ally Mick Wallace in the wake of his VAT controversy.

It was reported by the Evening Herald that the United Left Alliance, of which the Socialist Party was part, were to confront her over this stance.

Daly resigned from the Socialist Party on 31 August 2012.

In a statement, the Socialist Party said "it believed Ms Daly had resigned because she placed more value on her political connection with Independent TD Mick Wallace than on the political positions and work of the Socialist Party."

Daly described the claim as "absolute nonsense" and said that she had not called for Wallace's resignation because the Socialist Party had not called for his resignation.

She requested a share of the €120,000 Socialist Party's Leaders Allowance to allow her to continue to fund her activities as an Independent TD.

In April 2013, along with another TD, Joan Collins, she founded a new political party called United Left.

She was an organiser of the Anti-Water charges campaign in Swords in 2014.