Proinsias de Rossa
| Proinsias De Rossa | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Member of the European Parliament | |
|
In office June 1999 – February 2012 |
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In office June 1989 – 1992 |
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| Constituency | Dublin |
| Minister for Social Welfare | |
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In office 15 December 1994 – 26 June 1997 |
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| Taoiseach | John Bruton |
| Preceded by | Michael Woods |
| Succeeded by | Dermot Ahern |
| Teachta Dála | |
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In office February 1982 – May 2002 |
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| Constituency | Dublin North-West |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
15 May 1940 Dublin, Ireland |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Political party | Labour Party (since 1999) |
| Other political affiliations |
Democratic Left (1992–99) Workers' Party (1970–92) Sinn Féin (1956–70) |
| Alma mater | Dublin Institute of Technology |
Proinsias De Rossa (born 15 May 1940) is an Irish former Labour Party politician. He was President of the Workers' Party and subsequently leader of Democratic Left; later, he was a senior member of the Labour Party. He was Minister for Social Welfare from 1994 to 1997. He was a Member of the European Parliament for the Dublin constituency from 1989 to 1992 and from 1999 to 2012.
Born as Francis Ross in 1940 in Dublin, he was educated at Marlborough Street National School and Dublin Institute of Technology. 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 captured 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).
He was successful on his third attempt and was elected at the February 1982 general election as a Sinn Féin the Workers Party Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin North-West constituency. He retained his seat until the 2002 general election when he stood down in order to devote more time to his work in the European parliament.
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