Annie Hoey (born 3 October 1988) is an Irish Labour Party politician who has served as a Senator for the Agricultural Panel since April 2020.[1]

Annie Hoey
Senator
Assumed office
29 June 2020
ConstituencyAgricultural Panel
Personal details
Born (1988-10-03) 3 October 1988 (age 35)
Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland
Political partyLabour Party
SpouseDan Waugh
Alma mater
Websiteanniehoey.com

Early life and education edit

Hoey is from Beamore, Drogheda, a suburb just by the border between County Meath and County Louth.[2] She is the daughter of Raymond and Elizabeth and has two sisters.[3]

She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Drama and Theatre Studies in 2009, a Master of Arts in Comparative and World Literature in 2012, and a Postgraduate certificate in Women's Studies in 2013, all from University College Cork.[4] Hoey was voted "college society person of the year" in 2013 for her work with Amnesty, as chairperson of the UCC LGBT Society, and for co-founding of a humanist society in Cork.[5] She also co-founded, UCC FemSoc, UCC's first feminist society[6]

Hoey later studied for a specialist diploma in quality management at the University of Limerick in 2019. She then graduated in 2023 with a Postgraduate Diploma in Social Policy and Practise from Trinity College Dublin.[7]

Career edit

Representative student organisations edit

In 2013, Hoey was elected as the deputy president and campaigns officer for UCC Students' Union.[8][9]

At the Union of Students in Ireland congress in April 2014, Hoey was elected as the Vice President for Equality and Citizenship.[10] In March 2015, Hoey was re-elected to the same position.[11][9]

During 2014 and 2015, in the lead-up to the referendum on the Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland, known as the Marriage Equality referendum, Hoey used her role as USI Equality and Citizenship Officer to mobilise students across the country. She organised USI's flagship Pink Training event in Cork in November 2014. The weekend conference focused heavily on training students in campaigning for a Yes vote and it was attended by a record number of students. In the months leading up to the vote in 2015, Hoey traveled across the country conducting training events for students on messaging and canvassing. Hoey's mobilisation work accumulated with an idea of a "voter motor", a campaign that was launched by USI in the final week of the campaign to encourage people to give their fellow citizens a lift to the polling stations.[10]

During Hoey's second term as the USI Vice President for Equality and Citizenship, she was appointed Deputy President of USI to USI President Kevin Donoghue.[12]

Hoey then served as President of the Union of Students in Ireland from 2016 to 2017.[4] During her tenure as USI President, an estimated 15,000 students took part in the #EducationIs demonstration in Dublin, to show student opposition to income contingent loan schemes.[13] In March 2017, Hoey presented to the Citizens' Assembly at the fourth meeting of the Citizens' Assembly on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution.[14]

Hoey was also a board member of the Higher Education Authority.[15]

Political work edit

Hoey took up the role as the Education and Training officer for the Coalition to Repeal the Eighth Amendment in 2017.[16] Soon after, Hoey was appointed as the National Canvassing Coordinator and a spokesperson for Together For Yes working for long-time campaigner Ailbhe Smyth.[17][18][19]

During the 2018 presidential election, Hoey was appointed Volunteer Director for Campaign to Re-elect Michael D. Higgins.[17] Shortly after, Hoey was employed as the Women and Youth Development Manager with the Labour Party from 2019 to 2020.[17]

Meath County Council edit

In the 2019 local elections Hoey was elected on the 9th count in May 2019 to represent Laytown-Bettystown local electoral area on the Meath County Council with 1,093 first preference votes.[20] She served as a member of Meath County Council from 2019 to 2020.

2020 elections edit

In February 2020, Hoey unsuccessfully contested the 2020 general election as the Labour Party candidate for the Meath East constituency, receiving 874 first preference votes (2.08%).[21]

In March 2020, Hoey successfully contested the 2020 Seanad election as the Labour Party candidate for the Agricultural Panel.[22] Hoey received 63 first preference votes (weighted to a value of 63,000) and was elected on the 20th count with a final weighted vote tally of 94,186.[23] Elaine McGinty was co-opted to Hoey's seat on Meath County Council following her election to the Seanad.

Seanad Éireann edit

In April 2020, Hoey made history when she became the first out bisexual member of Ireland’s national parliament.[24] From 2021 to 2023, she raised topics on LGBTQ+ issues over 25 times inside the Oireachtas, especially on parental matters and trans healthcare.[25] She also championed the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival in 2022 as a “focal supporter in the Oireachtas” and has worked internationally to support LGBTQ+ rights also beyond the Irish borders.[26]

Hoey was one of five Labour Senators to seek a High Court ruling to determine whether the Seanad can sit before the eleven Taoiseach's nominees have been chosen.[27] In July 2020, Hoey was appointed Party Spokesperson on Higher Education, Innovation and Research.[28] She introduced legislation to link student nurses and midwives pay to Health Care Assistants' pay in December 2020 after months of campaigning.[29]

In 2023, she campaigned for the introduction of a LungCheck screening programme, similar to that of BreastCheck or CervicalCheck.[30][31] Hoey welcomed the news that a pilot would be getting underway when announced in April 2023.[32]

In February 2024, Hoey confronted social media company X executives with sexually abusive and violent posts directed at her on what she called a "hellscape" platform[33] where she claimed the platform was "doing infinitely more harm”.[34]

Personal life edit

Hoey is bisexual.[35] She is married to Dan Waugh.[36][37] In 2023, she was nominated for 'LGBTQ+ Person of the Year Award' at the GALAS 2023. [38] She owns a rescue greyhound named Daisy. [39]

References edit

  1. ^ "Annie Hoey". Oireachtas Members Database. Archived from the original on 9 August 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  2. ^ "Labour councillor Annie Hoey elected to Seanad". Meath Chronicle. 1 April 2020. Archived from the original on 3 April 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  3. ^ "Political activist Annie Hoey to run for Labour in East Meath". Drogheda Life. 23 April 2019. Archived from the original on 25 May 2021. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Cllr Annie Hoey". labour.ie. the Labour Party. 5 November 2015. Archived from the original on 11 February 2020. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  5. ^ "Annie Hoey The Phoenix Magazine". Archived from the original on 24 September 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  6. ^ "Annie Hoey Elected to TCDSU Board of Trustees". The University Times. Archived from the original on 15 November 2017. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  7. ^ Hoey, Annie (2024). "Annie Hoey's LinkedIn".
  8. ^ "Annie Hoey – The Young Bloods". The Phoenix. 3 November 2016. Archived from the original on 24 September 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  9. ^ a b Foley, Michael (24 October 2017). "Former USI president Annie Hoey appointed to TCDSU Board of Trustees". Trinity News. Archived from the original on 24 September 2021. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  10. ^ a b "Making Grá The Law – A reflection on the student movement and marriage equality". GCN. 22 May 2020. Archived from the original on 31 May 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  11. ^ "USI Latest News". WITSU. Archived from the original on 12 August 2020. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  12. ^ "Annie Hoey elected to lead USI | Union of Students in Ireland". 23 March 2016. Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  13. ^ Ó Caollaí, Éanna; D'Arcy, Ciarán (19 October 2016). "Thousands rally in Dublin protest against student fees". The Irish Times. Dublin. Archived from the original on 1 November 2017. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  14. ^ "Citizens Assembly Meetings" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 December 2017. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  15. ^ "Higher Education Authority" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 October 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  16. ^ "Meet Annie". Senator Annie Hoey. Archived from the original on 24 September 2021. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  17. ^ a b c Party, The Labour (5 November 2015). "Annie Hoey - Biography". The Labour Party. Archived from the original on 11 February 2020. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  18. ^ Field, Luke (30 July 2018). "The abortion referendum of 2018 and a timeline of abortion politics in Ireland to date". Irish Political Studies. 33 (4): 608–628. doi:10.1080/07907184.2018.1500461. S2CID 150146891.
  19. ^ "Meet Two of the Activists Behind Ireland's Historic Vote to Repeal a Ban on Nearly All Abortions". Democracy Now!. Archived from the original on 26 September 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  20. ^ "Elections 2019: Local Electoral Area: Laytown-Bettystown". Irish Independent. Dublin. Archived from the original on 8 June 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  21. ^ "Meath East constituency". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 29 February 2020. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  22. ^ O'Halloran, Marie (1 March 2020). "SF's Lynn Boylan among those running for Seanad". The Irish Times. Dublin. Archived from the original on 9 June 2021.
  23. ^ "Labour councillor Annie Hoey elected to Seanad". Meath Chronicle. Navan. 1 April 2020. Archived from the original on 8 June 2021. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  24. ^ "SENATOR ANNIE HOEY | 380 - GCN Magazine". magazine.gcn.ie. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  25. ^ Oireachtas, Houses of the (28 February 2023). "An tOrd Gnó (Atógáil) - Order of Business (Resumed) – Seanad Éireann (26th Seanad) – Tuesday, 28 Feb 2023 – Houses of the Oireachtas". www.oireachtas.ie. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  26. ^ "SENATOR ANNIE HOEY | 380 - GCN Magazine". magazine.gcn.ie. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  27. ^ O'Connell, Hugh (11 June 2020). "Senators to seek court ruling that could extend deadline to form a government". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 11 June 2020.
  28. ^ Moore, Aoife (7 July 2020). "Labour will be 'strong democratic voice' in opposition, says Alan Kelly". Irish Examiner. Archived from the original on 7 July 2020.
  29. ^ Miley, Ingrid (20 January 2021). "Opposition calls for 'fair and reasonable' pay for student nurses". Archived from the original on 30 January 2021.
  30. ^ "Time to consider a national Lung Cancer Screening Programme". The Labour Party. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  31. ^ "Labour demand introduction of national Lung Cancer Screening Programme". The Labour Party. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  32. ^ "Irish lung cancer screening pilot to get underway". www.businesspost.ie. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  33. ^ "Labour senator Annie Hoey confronts X execs with sexually abusive and violent posts directed at her on 'hellscape' platform". Independent.ie. 21 February 2024. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  34. ^ "Social media 'doing infinitely more harm', says Senator following sustained online abuse". BreakingNews.ie. 22 February 2024. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  35. ^ @hoeyannie (11 October 2020). "Senator Bisexual signing in for duty on #ComingOutDay Bisexuals exist (we even walk the hallowed corridors of Leinster House!) The Gay Agenda™ is not complete until LGBTQ+ people across the world are free and exist peacefully. Trans women are women. TERFs can go suck coal" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  36. ^ Nolan, Larissa (3 May 2022). "Senator Annie Hoey tells of bisexual pride: 'I'm the only 'out' woman in Irish politics'". Irish Mirror. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  37. ^ ""I've postponed my wedding four times so we've decided enough is enough" – Senator Annie Hoey". Irish Independent. 4 July 2021. Archived from the original on 4 July 2021. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  38. ^ Tiernan, Han (1 September 2023). "GALAS 2023 shortlist announced for awards honouring Ireland's LGBTQ+ community". GCN. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  39. ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 23 February 2024.

External links edit