Prionsias de Rossa
| Proinsias De Rossa | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Minister for Social Welfare | |
|
In office 15 December 1994 – 26 June 1997 |
|
| Taoiseach | John Bruton |
| Preceded by | Michael Woods |
| Succeeded by | Dermot Ahern |
| Leader of Democratic Left | |
|
In office 15 February 1992 – 11 July 1999 |
|
| Preceded by | New office |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Member of the European Parliament | |
|
In office 1 July 1999 – 22 February 2012 |
|
|
In office 1 July 1989 – 30 November 1992 |
|
| Constituency | Dublin |
| Teachta Dála | |
|
In office February 1982 – May 2002 |
|
| Constituency | Dublin North-West |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Proinsias De Rossa 15 May 1940 Finglas, Dublin, Ireland |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Political party | Labour Party (since 1999) |
| Other political affiliations |
Democratic Left (1992-99) Workers' Party (1970-1992) Sinn Féin (?-1970) |
| Alma mater | Dublin Institute of Technology |
Proinsias De Rossa (born 15 May 1940) is a former Irish Labour Party politician who served as Minister for Social Welfare from 1994 to 1997 and Leader of Democratic Left from 1992 to 1999. He served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Dublin constituency from 1989 to 1992 and 1999 to 2012. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin North-West constituency from 1989 to 2002.
Born as Francis Ross in 1940 in Dublin, he was educated at Marlborough Street National School and Dublin Institute of Technology. He joined Fianna Eireann at age 12.
Soon after his sixteenth birthday, in May 1956, he joined the Irish Republican Army (IRA), and was politically active in Sinn Féin from an early age. During the IRA Border Campaign, he was arrested while training other IRA members in Glencree in May 1956. He served seven months in Mountjoy Prison and was then interned at the Curragh Camp.
He worked in his family's fruit and vegetable shop, and later was employed as a postman and an encyclopaedia salesman.
He took the Official Sinn Féin side in the 1970 split. In 1977 he contested his first general election for the party, which that year was renamed Sinn Féin – The Workers' Party (in 1982 the name changed again to the Workers' Party).
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