Roderic O'Gorman


Roderic O'Gorman is an Irish Green Party politician who has served as Minister for Children, Disability, Equality and Integration since June 2020. He has been a Teachta Dála for the Dublin West constituency since the 2020 general election. He served as Chairman of the Green Party from 2011 to 2019.

Background

O'Gorman is originally from Mulhuddart, and now lives in Blanchardstown. He works as lecturer in law at the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University, where he is the programme chair of the Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Politics and Law programme. Before this he worked at Griffith College, where he lectured and was a course director for five years. He had completed his undergraduate law degree at Trinity College, followed by a Master of Laws in EU law in the London School of Economics. He completed his PhD entitled 'Union citizenship, social rights and the Marshallian approach' in Trinity College, Dublin in 2011. He is openly gay.

Political career

O'Gorman first brush with politics and the Green Party came when, at the age of 10 years old, he canvassed on behalf of his local Councillor Trevor Sargent in his successful bid in the 1992 general election. O'Gorman formally joined the Young Greens while studying law at Trinity College Dublin in the early 2000s and supported John Gormley in his bid for the leadership of the Green Party in 2002.
O'Gorman was considered of the most ardent supporters of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010, which introduced Civil Partnerships for Gay and Lesbian couples in Ireland.
O'Gorman was elected as a Fingal County Councillor for the Castleknock local electoral area, following the 2014 local elections. He failed to get elected as a TD at the 2007, 2011 and 2016 general elections, but finally succeeded when he was elected in the 2020 General Election to represent Dublin West. On the 27th of June 2020 he was appointed Minister for Children, Disability, Equality and Integration in the 32nd Government of Ireland.
Following his appointment as Minister for Children, O'Gorman was criticised on social media over a photo of him appearing with Peter Tatchell, a British LGBT activist criticised for remarks made regarding paedophilia in 1997. Among those to ask for clarity were Newstalk presenter and former medical doctor Ciara Kelly and actor John Connors. O'Gorman issued a public statement via Twitter regarding the matter.
In the same statement, O'Gorman claimed that the episode was "rooted in homophobia" and was being driven by "anonymous far-right Twitter accounts". Furthermore, O'Gorman stated that neither he, his party nor the government have any plans to lower the age of consent in Ireland.
John Connors subsequently publicly apologised to O'Gorman after Connors appeared at a rally held against O'Gorman by members of the Irish far-right such as the National Party. Connors said after attending the rally he realised he had been "politically native" and that he had allowed himself "to be lead and be part of an online frenzy that cast hurtful and false assertions" on O'Gorman. O'Gorman stated that he accepted the apology and considered the matter "fully resolved" between the two.
In July 2020, O'Gorman announced his intention to make it easier for those under the age of 16 to legally change their gender with their parent's consent. That same month he also announced a "root and branch" review of the "fragmented" child care sector, with the intention that after 10 months a new agency would be created that could pull together and co-ordinate the many different committees and national bodies already tasked with oversight of Irish childcare as well as cutting through red tape. He also pledged to increase financial support for parents who choose to look after their children themselves rather than using childcare services.