Dudgeon bids to be Seanad’s ‘unionist voice’

FIRST it was Gerry, now it’s Jeffrey. Hot on the heels of Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams’s move to Leinster House, a long-standing member of the Ulster Unionist Party has announced plans to run in the Seanad elections.

Jeffrey Dudgeon, a one-time gay activist, communist and former worker for the ultra-conservative United Kingdom Unionist Party member Robert McCartney, has confirmed he is targeting a seat in the Oireachtas upper house.

If he succeeds, the 63-year-old will become the first openly-stated unionist to be a member of the Seanad since the first years of the state.

The TCD graduate, who lodged his nomination papers for the university’s three-seat election race this week, first came to international attention almost 30 years ago in a landmark legal case. In a move which forced the British government to decriminalise homosexuality, Mr Dudgeon won a European Court of Human Rights case in 1982 in an historic legal ruling.

Speaking to the Belfast Newsletter, Mr Dudgeon said he is running to allow a liberal unionist voice to be heard in the Seanad “for the first time in decades”. He added that he hoped to fill the Seanad gap “left by Shane Ross” and act as a counter-weight to new Louth TD, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams.

Nominations for the Seanad’s National University of Ireland and Trinity College seats closed yesterday, with the Oireachtas nominations deadline set for March 11. The final cutoff point for any candidate is March 21.

Among those known to have put their names forward are broadcaster Marc Coleman, Travellers’ activist Rosaleen McDonagh, cancer specialist Prof John Crown and former Teachers Union of Ireland president Paddy Healy.

Outgoing Taoiseach Brian Cowen has also appointed unsuccessful Fianna Fáil Dublin North general election candidate Darragh O’Brien to replace former PD and current Fine Gael TD Ciaran Cannon.