Barry Andrews

Barry Andrews (born 16 May 1967) is an Irish politician who serves as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Dublin constituency. He is a member of Fianna Fáil, part of Renew Europe. He previously served as Minister of State for Children from 2008 to 2011. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dún Laoghaire constituency from 2002 to 2011. The Andrews family have a long connection with Fianna Fáil. Before entering political life, Andrews was a secondary school teacher. He was the Director-General of the Dublin-based Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA), a partly Irish State-funded EU think tank, since 2017. He was CEO of GOAL from 2012 to 2016, during which the agency grew from a turnover of €60m to more than €150m. He announced his resignation to allow for ‘a fresh start in terms of leadership’ in October 2016 in the wake of a fraud in the charity that was discovered in March 2016. Early career and personal life He was born in Dublin and was educated at Blackrock College and University College Dublin (UCD), where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Philosophy in 1988, and a Masters of Arts in Modern History in 1990. He worked as a secondary school teacher in Dublin from 1991 until 1997, working in Ballyfermot Senior College, Sutton Park School and Bruce College. While a secondary school teacher, he studied law at King's Inns and qualified as a barrister in 1997. He was called to the Bar in 1997 and practised as a barrister until 2003. He is married and has one son. His brother, David McSavage is a comedian, and he is a first cousin of RTÉ television and radio presenter Ryan Tubridy. Political career Andrews was first elected to public office in the June 1999 local elections as a Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Councillor. He was elected to Dáil Éireann at the 2002 general election. Andrews comes from a family with strong political connections. His grandfather, Todd Andrews, fought in the War of Independence and became a founder-member of Fianna Fáil, and his grandmother, Mary Coyle, was a member of Cumann na mBan. Andrews's father, David Andrews served as a TD from 1965 to 2002 and is a former Foreign Minister, while his uncle, Niall Andrews, was a former Fianna Fáil TD and MEP and his cousin, Chris Andrews (son of Niall Andrews), has been a Sinn Féin TD since 2020 (having previously served as a Fianna Fáil TD from 2007 to 2011). In April 2018, Andrews was described as "part of Fianna Fáil royalty".