Proinsias has served as Labour MEP for Dublin since 1999. He represented Dublin North-West in the Dail for 20 years. Proinsias was elected leader of The Workers Party in 1988, and left in 1992 to found Democratic Left. He led DL into the 1994-1997 Rainbow Government, where he served as Minister for Social Welfare. His achievements included introducing the first ever National Anti-Poverty Strategy.

Many women also remember Proinsias as the Minister who delivered justice when he ensured that 70,000 women who had been paid a lower social welfare rate than men received their back payments. He has also served on the European Convention, that produced the Draft European Constitution, which was in turn the basis for the Lisbon Treaty.

European Record - Solidarity and Fairness

Known as a campaigner for consumer and workers’ rights, Proinsias was a member of the Parliament enquiry into the collapse of Equitable Life, which affected thousands of insurance policy holders in Ireland and elsewhere.

In the European Parliament, Proinsias has worked and campaigned on a variety of issues ranging from human rights to workers’ rights as a member of the parliament’s employment policy committee. A tireless advocate for Palestinian rights, Proinsias is Vice-Chair of the Parliament’s Delegation to the Palestinian Legislative Council and has visited Gaza and the West Bank a number of times. He has also campaigned against the use of Shannon Airport by the CIA for the so-called ‘extraordinary rendition’ of abducted prisoners to jurisdictions where they faced torture. Proinsias was a member of the Parliament enquiry, which found that Ireland was in breach of its international human rights obligations by facilitating aircraft known to be involved in extraordinary renditions flights at Irish airports.

In the Parliament, Proinsias is active in the Trade Union Co-Ordination Intergroup, the Disability Intergroup and the ATD Fourth World Intergroup, which addresses poverty in the EU.

He is also a member of Solidar, (‘solidarity without borders’), a Europe-wide network campaigning on a range of issues in Europe and around the world. Click here to find out more about Solidar’s ‘Decent Work, Decent Life’ campaign. Proinsias has also taken up the issue of child labour in parliamentary reports and participated in a field trip to Andra Pradesh, India, with Concern International (Click here for further info).

Proinsias is a very active member of the Socialist Group, and of three Parliament committees: the Social Affairs and Employment Committee, the Petitions Committee – which hears petitions from individual citizens – and the Security and Defence Committee. He has had a number of reports adopted by Parliament, including the report on the future of the European Social Model, which he co-authored.

Looking forward - Programme

Together with his Socialist colleagues in the European Parliament, Proinsias is working to:

• Launch the recovery of the European economy and prevent new financial crises

• Renew Europe’s Social Agenda to deliver fairness in society
 

• Make Europe a global force against climate change
 

• Advance gender equality
 

• Develop a fair European migration policy
 

• Enhance Europe’s role in promoting peace and development, and combating global poverty.

For more information on the Party of European Socialists manifesto click here