Richard Boyd Barrett

Richard Boyd Barrett (born 6 February 1967) is an Irish People Before Profit–Solidarity politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dún Laoghaire constituency since the 2011 general election. Boyd Barrett is a former member of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council. He is also chair of the Irish Anti-War Movement and has been cited on war issues in the Irish media. Family and education Richard Boyd Barrett was adopted as a baby. He was raised as a Roman Catholic in Glenageary, County Dublin, by his parents, David Boyd Barrett, an accountant, and his wife, Valerie. He attended St Michael's College in Dublin. He holds a master's degree in English literature from University College Dublin. His birth mother is Sinéad Cusack, with whom he was later reunited in public. The Cusack-Boyd Barrett connection was revealed to the public in the last week of Boyd Barrett's unsuccessful attempt to be elected to the Dáil, at the 2007 general election; Cusack, a vocal opponent of the Iraq War, canvassed for him. Political commentators incorrectly claimed that Boyd Barrett had leaked his connection with Cusack for political gains; it was actually a meeting of Sunday Independent journalist Liam Collins and the same newspaper's security correspondent Jim Cusack that led to its publication. While both were dining out in Dún Laoghaire, the security correspondent mentioned to Collins: "I heard Sinéad Cusack is his mother". Collins had political reporter Daniel McConnell call Boyd Barrett to ask him. Boyd Barrett asked that it not be published as it was private family information that had nothing to do with his role as a public representative, though, when it was, his mother was then in a position to campaign for him. Since their reunion, Boyd Barrett has had a good relationship with Cusack, her husband Jeremy Irons, and his half-brothers, Sam and Max. In May 2013, he revealed that theatre director Vincent Dowling was his biological father. Political career