Lorraine Higgins

Lorraine Higgins (born 3 August 1979) is an Irish barrister, and a former Labour Party politician who represented the party in the 24th Seanad after being nominated by the Taoiseach Enda Kenny.^[1] From Galway, she is a graduate of NUI Galway (acquiring a B.A. from the university in 2001)^[2] and, later, the King's Inns.^[3] During her time there she was Labour Party Seanad spokesperson on Reform and Foreign Affairs.

Lorraine Higgins
Higgins in 2014
Senator
In office 25 May 2011 – 8 June 2016
Constituency	Nominated by the Taoiseach
Personal details
Born	(1979-08-03) 3 August 1979 (age 46) Galway, Ireland
Political party	Labour Party
Alma mater	NUI Galway

Career

She ran as a candidate in the Galway East constituency at the 2011 general election. In May 2011, she was nominated by the Taoiseach Enda Kenny to the 24th Seanad.^[4]

Higgins was a candidate for the Labour Party in the Midlands–North-West constituency for the 2014 European Parliament election but failed to take a seat during one of the worst elections for the Labour Party.

She unsuccessfully contested the 2016 Irish general election for the Galway East constituency.^[5]

She was not selected for re-appointment to the 25th Seanad. Higgins complained about how "regrettable" it was that more women were not included in the parliamentary party. She was quoted as saying: "For me it was the last throw of the dice and I probably won't be involved in representative politics again".^[6]

In March 2017, Higgins became employed as Head of Public Affairs and Communications and as a board member with Retail Excellence. She was promoted to the position of CEO in July 2018.^[7]

She subsequently founded leading digital representative body, Digital Business Ireland, and Dublin-based consultancy company, Rockwood Public Affairs.^{[citation needed]}

She was appointed to the position of Honorary Consul of the Slovak Republic in 2019.^{[citation needed]}

In August 2020, she attended a golf party in County Galway which breached the COVID-19 guidelines.^[8]

2015 threats and harassment

During the summer of 2015, a man named Stephen French of Walkinstown sent her messages involving violent and anti-Semitic content, saying that he "will watch her bleed" and that he is "going to blow her fucking Jew nose right off".^[9] In the aftermath of the incidents, French was spared from serving time in jail and given a suspended six-month sentence after his guilty plea to three charges of threatening Higgins and two charges of harassing her.^[10]