Paudie Coffey

Paudie Coffey (born 15 May 1969) is an Irish Fine Gael politician, and was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Waterford constituency from February 2011 to February 2016. On 15 July 2014, he was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of the Environment with special responsibility for Housing, Planning and Coordination of the Construction 2020 Strategy.
He was first elected to Waterford County Council in 1999 for the Suir electoral area, and re-elected in 2004. He was an unsuccessful candidate at the 2007 general election for the Waterford constituency but was subsequently elected to Seanad Éireann in July 2007 on the Industrial and Commercial Panel.
Coffey was elected for the Waterford constituency at the 2011 general election with 9,698 (18.1%) first preference votes. On 15 July 2014, he was appointed as Minister of State with responsibility for Housing, Planning and Co-ordination of the Construction 2020 Strategy at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. He lost his seat at the 2016 general election. He remained as a junior minister in an acting capacity during prolonged talks on government formation, earning €6,611 in that time.
Senator Coffey was instrumental in the introduction of the Construction Contracts Act 2013. The Act will regularise payment terms between construction companies and puts in place a dispute resolution process aimed at reducing days lost and costs on construction projects.
He was nominated by the Taoiseach Enda Kenny to the 25th Seanad in May 2016.