O’Malley Dunlop campaigns for Seanad seat

Áine Ryan

IT is 35 years since the NUI (National University of Ireland) elected a woman to the Seanad. That is a little-known gender-balance reality about the upper house of this country’s parliament highlighted by Ellen O’Malley Dunlop (pictured). The longtime Chief Executive of Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) recently announced her plan to try to right that unequal representation by running for one of the three NUI seats in the upcoming Seanad elections. They will take place on April 26 next.   
Ms O’Malley Dunlop regularly spends time at her home on Clare Island, the birthplace of her paternal grandfather, John Sarah O’Malley of Ballytoughy Mór.
As well as addressing the gender balance and its potential for creating a more effective upper house, a key priority for Ellen O’Malley Dunlop is investment in every level of education from early years to third-level; reform of the mental health system; repeal of the Eighth Amendment;  and the inclusion of ‘a definition of consent’ in the law on sexual offences.
After ten years at the helm of DRCC, where she endeavoured to influence ‘positive change on the complex issues surrounding sexual and gender-based violence and the rights of victims of crime’, Ms O’Malley Dunlop will step down on March 12 next.  
Strong record
She said: “Throughout my career I have a strong record in leading change and I want to bring my experience to representing the graduates of NUI to Seanad Éireann. Over my ten years as CEO of leading the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, I also lobbied for reform in legislation for victims rights and children’s rights and was appointed Adjunct Professor to the School of Law in UL in December 2015.”  
Prior to her work at DRCC, she worked as a psychotherapist, and was a founding member of the MSc in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in Trinity College. She trained as a primary school teacher at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, focussing on children with special needs.   
The three senators elected by the NUI constituency in 2011 were Independents Feargal Quinn, Ronan Mullen and John Crown. Only registered NUI graduates are eligible to vote in this election.