Averil Power

Averil Power (born 26 July 1978) is an Irish politician. While in Fianna Fáil she was elected to the 24th Seanad in April 2011 by the Industrial and Commercial Panel. From 2011 until 2015 she was Fianna Fáil's Seanad spokesperson on Education and Skills. Then she fell out with them and went independent.

Early life

She grew up in a council estate and is the first person in her family to finish school and go to college.

She has a degree in Business, Economics and Social Science from Trinity College, Dublin, where she was elected to the positions of President (2001–02) and Education Officer (2000–01) of Trinity College Dublin Students' Union. She also has a Diploma in Legal Studies from Honorable Society of Kings Inns and is a graduate of the Boston College Political Leadership Programme. She unsuccessfully contested election for President of the Union of Students in Ireland in March 2002, losing out to DIT student Colm Jordan.

Political career

Early months: 2009–2011

Power first sought election to public office at the 2009 local and European elections, contesting election for Fianna Fáil in the Howth-Malahide local electoral area of Fingal County Council. She was unsuccessful, coming seventh with 7.46% of the vote. During this period she was employed as a political adviser by Minister Mary Hanafin in the Departments of Tourism, Social and Family Affairs and Education on a salary reported to be €100,191 per year plus pension contribution. She remained a political adviser to Hanafin until the 2011 general election.

Promotion(s): 2011–2015

In February 2011, before the general election, Fianna Fáil Leader Micheál Martin appointed Power directly to his Front Bench, in doing so breaking the convention that members of the Front Bench hold elected office. Power contested the Dublin North-East constituency at the 2011 general election but was not elected. In a three-seat constituency, she polled fourth on the first count, receiving 4,794 first preference votes (11.5%).

In March 2011, following on from this failure to secure a seat in a general election, Micheál Martin nominated Power via the Oireachtas panel to contest the 2011 Seanad election on the Industrial and Commercial Vocational Panel. She was elected, polling 75 votes.

Demotion: 2015–present

On 25 May 2015, Power announced that she was leaving the Fianna Fáil party, citing disagreements over how they had handled the same-sex marriage referendum. She was again unsuccessful in her bid to be elected to the Dáil at the 2016 general election, this time running in the newly created Dublin Bay North constituency.

Interests

Power is interested in education, social justice, mental health and LGBT equality. She was awarded a GALA for 'Politician of the Year' by the National LGBT Federation in 2014. She also produced policy papers on youth mental health and increasing female representation in politics.

She has talked about being an adopted person and wants all Irish adoptees to have a right to their birth certs. She has an interest in development issues and volunteered in Mozambique with Voluntary Service Overseas in August 2011. She also visited the Occupied Palestinian territories with Christian Aid in 2013 and is a vocal advocate of the rights of the Palestinian people. She proposed a motion recognizing the State of Palestine which was passed by the Irish Senate in October 2014. She is a Jury member for the global Frontline Defenders human rights awards.

Personal life

She is married to Fionnan Sheahan, who edits the Irish Independent.