DUBLIN CITY councillor and former lord mayor Emer Costello formally takes over this week as Labour Party MEP for Dublin from veteran politician Proinsias De Rossa.
Mr De Rossa announced his retirement last month after 16 years overall as an MEP.
Ms Costello will be formally declared MEP for Dublin at the European Parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg this week and will sit with the socialist grouping at the parliament.
Originally from Dundalk, Ms Costello has been a Labour Party councillor since 2003.
She graduated in the 1980s as a secondary school teacher of history and French and later became programme manager of education services at Léargas (insight), an Irish agency that manages international programmes on youth, education and vocational training.
She was elected to the Council of Europe Congress of Local Authorities in 2008 by the Association of City and County Councils.
In March 2009, she won the selection to be the first substitute MEP. Three months later she was elected as the lord mayor of Dublin by acclamation (without a ballot). Ms Costello will be a member of the same committees Mr De Rossa served on including those dealing with employment and social affairs.
Speaking yesterday Ms Costello said the Commission on Employment she established as lord mayor had become part of the City Development Plan and the four Dublin local authorities had developed a single economic action plan for the Dublin region.
The employment and social affairs work she does in Europe would enable her to bring forward “some of the proposals we had for that”. She will also be a member of the development committee. Her husband is Minister for Overseas Development Joe Costello.
She will also put her name forward to be chair of the European Parliament delegation for relations with the Palestinian Legislative Council, which Mr De Rossa chaired.
A selection convention to choose Ms Costello’s successor to Dublin City Council is expected to be held next month.
