Name	Olli Rehn
Office	European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs
President	José Manuel Barroso
Term start	9 February 2010
Predecessor	Joaquín Almunia
Office2	European Commissioner for Enlargement
President2	José Manuel Barroso
Term start2	22 November 2004
Term end2	9 February 2010
Predecessor2	Günter VerheugenJanez Potočnik
Successor2	Štefan Füle (Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy)
Office3	European Commissioner for Enterprise and Information Society
President3	Romano Prodi
Alongside3	Ján Figeľ
Term start3	12 July 2004
Term end3	11 November 2004
Predecessor3	Erkki Liikanen
Successor3	Günter Verheugen (Enterprise and Industry)Viviane Reding (Information Society and Media)
Birth date	March 31, 1962
Birth place	Mikkeli, Finland
Party	Centre Party
Alma mater	Macalester CollegeUniversity of HelsinkiSt Antony's College, Oxford }}

Olli Ilmari Rehn () (born 31 March 1962) is a Finnish politician, currently serving as European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs. He had previously served as Commissioner for Enlargement. He has held a variety of political positions in European institutions as well as in Finland.

Early career

Born in Mikkeli in Eastern Finland, Rehn studied economics, international relations and journalism at Macalester College, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA. He took a master's degree in political science from the University of Helsinki in 1989, and a PhD from the University of Oxford in 1996 on the subject of "Corporatism and Industrial Competitiveness in Small European States".

Rehn also played football for his hometown club Mikkelin Palloilijat in Finland's top division ''Mestaruussarja'' (now Veikkausliiga) in his youth.

He began his political career already in youth politics as a regular member of the Finnish Centre Youth and became soon the Secretary General of the Nordic Centre Youth. 1987 he was elected as the president of the Finnish Centre Youth. That position can be seen as predicting high political responsibilities in Finnish Politics.

In 1988 Rehn was elected as a city councillor in Helsinki. He was vice-president of the Centre Party from 1988 to 1994, having been president of its youth wing from 1987. Elected to the Finnish Parliament in 1991, Rehn led the Finnish delegation to the Council of Europe, and was a special adviser to the Finnish Prime Minister Esko Aho from 1992 to 1993. He left the Finnish Parliament in 1995 to become an MEP, aligned to the liberal group.

He was briefly the chairman of Veikkausliiga from 1996 to 1997. From 1998 to 2002 Rehn ran the office of Erkki Liikanen, Finland's representative on the Prodi Commission. Rehn would later succeed Liikanen in the role of Commissioner for Enterprise and Information Society. In 2002 he left European politics for the University of Helsinki, where he led the Centre for European Studies. In 2003 he became an adviser to the Prime Minister on economic policy, a position he held until his appointment to the European Commission the following year.

Rehn is married with one child. He was the youngest member of the first Barroso Commission. In addition to his native Finnish he speaks English, French, Swedish, and some German.

European Commission

Rehn served briefly in the Prodi Commission. He was appointed European Commissioner for Enterprise and Information Society on 12 July 2004, taking over the role from the previous Finnish Commissioner Erkki Liikanen, who left his post the same day to become Governor of the Bank of Finland. The Finnish government nominated Rehn for the incoming Barroso Commission which took office on 22 November 2004.

Rehn's appointment to the enlargement post was seen as a slight disappointment for Finland, who had hoped for their nominee to be given a portfolio relating to economic issues. Enlargement was a central issue for the EU in the run-up to the landmark accession of ten countries on 1 May 2004, but has since declined in importance, if only slightly. Rehn presided over the accession of Bulgaria and Romania in 2007, as well as continuing negotiations with Croatia and opening them with Turkey, the latter being perhaps the most significant and the most hotly debated future accession.

Rehn favours Turkish membership but has controversially suggested permanent restrictions on the free movement of workers from Turkey, "in case serious disturbances occur in the labour market within the EU as a result of Turkey’s accession," an attitude seen by some as running counter to the whole purpose and spirit of the EU. He has stressed the importance of greater respect for human rights and civil liberties as preconditions for Turkey's entry, while acknowledging the advances it had already made in this respect.

Selection hearing

Questioned by the European Parliament, Rehn offered his thoughts on the prospects for accession of each of the countries highest on the enlargement agenda.

He praised Turkey for the human rights advances it had made but said he would advocate stronger monitoring if the decision was taken to open accession talks by the European Council when it considered the question in December.

Asked about free movement of Turkish labour after the country's accession, Rehn expressed the view that there should be "considerable transitional periods as well as a permanent safeguard clause." He was cautious on the question of the inevitability of Turkish membership, stating that he did not "believe in historic determinism," but that if negotiations were begun, "underpinned by the commitment that [Turkey] will be able to join [the EU] once it fulfils all conditions, it will join as soon as it does meet the conditions."

He insisted that Bulgaria and Romania would be judged on their merits and that he would not hesitate to delay accession by a year if the EU's requirements were not met on time. He considered the establishment of a pre-accession strategy for the Western Balkans one of his prime tasks.

References

External links

Olli Rehn Official Media Gallery

Official website

Interview with Olli Rehn, 26 February 2003, part of the ''Conversations with History'' series from the Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley

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Category:1962 births Category:Alumni of St Antony's College, Oxford Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford Category:University of Helsinki alumni Category:Centre Party (Finland) politicians Category:Finnish European Commissioners Category:Finnish footballers Category:Living people Category:People from Mikkeli Category:Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 2nd Class

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name	Bryan Dobson
birth date	February 10, 1960
birth place	Sandymount, Dublin, Ireland
occupation	Journalist, Presenter, Newsreader
salary	€193,610
ethnicityity	Irish
credits	''RTÉ News: Six One'' ''RTÉ News and Current Affairs
url	}}

Bryan Dobson (born 10 February 1960) is a newscaster with RTÉ in Ireland.

Early and personal life

Dobson was raised in Sandymount. He attended Newpark Comprehensive School, Blackrock, Dublin. It was one of the first schools to introduce the Transition Year programme. In it, he presented a half-hour radio programme. When he finished school, he attended a media course in the Rathmines College of Commerce.

He currently lives in Dublin with his wife and their two children.

Career

Dobson previously worked for the Dublin pirate station Radio Nova, hosting their nightly Dublin Today programme. Before joining RTÉ in 1987, he worked for BBC Northern Ireland.

RTÉ

Dobson joined RTÉ News and Current Affairs as a reporter in 1992. Before being the main RTÉ News: Nine O'Clock presenter, he was the RTÉ Business Correspondent. In September 1996, he was named as the co-presenter of the flagship early evening news programme, RTÉ News: Six One on RTÉ One, one of the most watched news programmes in Ireland. Since then he has presented that news programme, currently with Sharon Ní Bheoláin. He also presents various special programmes such as RTÉ's coverage of general elections.

In 2003 he became embroiled in a minor controversy. Dobson was accused of a conflict of interest when it was reported that he had provided some training for senior local authority officials in answering questions in the media, although the controversy was somewhat defused when Dobson expressed regret for what was viewed as a misjudgment. He interviewed Bertie Ahern in 2006, after which Dobson said "I've never done an interview like it before and I doubt if I ever will again".

References

External links

Webchat on RTÉ News Website

Category:1960 births Category:Irish Anglicans Category:Living people Category:Broadcast news analysts Category:RTÉ newsreaders and journalists Category:Irish reporters and correspondents

name	Gay Mitchell
honorific-suffix	MEP
nationality	Irish
office	Member of the European Parliament
constituency	Dublin
term start	June 2004
office1	Minister of State for European Affairs
term start1	20 December 1994
term end1	26 June 1997
predecessor1	New Office
successor1	Dick Roche (2002)
office2	Teachta Dála
constituency2	Dublin South Central
term start2	June 1981
term end2	May 2007
birth date	December 30, 1951
birth place	Dublin, Ireland
party	Fine Gael, European People's Party
website
alma mater	Dublin Institute of TechnologyQueen's University Belfast }}

Gabriel "Gay" Mitchell (born 30 December 1951) is an Irish politician and Member of the European Parliament for the Dublin constituency since 2004. He is a member of Fine Gael, part of the European People's Party, and a former Teachta Dála (TD) for Dublin South Central from 1981–2007. He was defeated by Enda Kenny in the Fine Gael leadership election, 2002.

Biography

Gabriel "Gay" Mitchell was born in Inchicore, Dublin in 1951. He was educated at St. Michael's Congregation of Christian Brothers, Emmet Road Vocational School, Dublin Institute of Technology College of Commerce and Queen's University Belfast. His brother, Jim Mitchell, was a long-serving Fine Gael TD and former government minister.

Political career

He first became involved in politics in 1979 as a member of Dublin City Council. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fine Gael TD in the 1981 general election for the Dublin South Central constituency. Since then he has served as a Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Foreign Affairs with special responsibility for European Affairs. He was the Irish Representative on the Reflection Group which prepared the Amsterdam Treaty.

Mitchell is also a former Lord Mayor of Dublin and, while never holding full cabinet rank, has served on the opposition front bench as spokesperson on Health (2000–2002), Foreign Affairs (1997–2000), Justice (1993–1994), Public Service and Constitutional Reform (1991–1992), Tourism and Transport (1989–1991), European Integration (1988–1989), Urban Renewal (1987–1988) and Health Board Reform (1981–1982).

Following Michael Noonan's resignation as Fine Gael leader in 2002, Mitchell was a challenger in the subsequent leadership election, losing out to the victor, Enda Kenny. Before his election to the European Parliament, he had been party spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, writing the party's "Beyond Neutrality" policy document.

In November 2006, Mitchell announced that he had taken the difficult decision not to contest the 2007 general election and concentrate on his European seat. Mitchell is a Vice Chair of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.

During the 2008 referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon, Mitchell was Fine Gael's director of elections for the referendum.

Mitchell is a member of the European Parliament Committee on Development, the Special Committee on the Financial, Economic and Social Crisis and the delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly. He is also a substitute member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and the delegation for relations with the People's Republic of China.

Mitchell is the author of ''By Dáil Account'', the first book published in Ireland on the history and role of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the office of Comptroller and Auditor General.

2011 Presidential election

In 2011, he announced his intention to seek the Fine Gael nomination for the Irish presidential election. On 9 July 2011, he was chosen as the Fine Gael candidate at a special convention.

Controversies

Clemency pleas for murders

Following the withdrawal of David Norris from the 2011 presidential campaign after it was revealed that Norris had sought clemency for his former partner from a statutory rape conviction, it was subsequently pointed out that Mitchell had also sought clemency for a convict, in his case for Army of God member and double-murderer Paul Jennings Hill, a fact that had been public knowledge for eight years.

Another convict Mitchell sought clemency for was Louis Truesdale, who was convicted in 1980 of the rape and murder of 18-year-old Rebecca Ann Eudy. The victim's mother, Evelyn Eudy said "''she was appalled to hear Mr Mitchell was running as a presidential candidate in Ireland''". According to newspaper reports when he was questioned about these letters on the 27th August 2011, he "became quite incensed" and revealed that he has written "a number" of clemency pleas.

Expense allowances

In June 2011, Mitchell refused to release details of his expense and allowance claims as a member of the European Parliament.

Views on homosexuality

Mitchell defended Italian MEP Rocco Buttiglione's remarks when he referred to homosexuality as a sin.

Mitchell has been questioned as to whether or not he is a member of the European Catholic group ''Dignitatis Humanae Institute'', which he denied on the 12th August 2011 in a radio interview with Pat Kenny, however according to Benjamin Harnwell, the institute's founding chairman Mitchell helped formulate the charter that became the institute's declaration. In the same interview Mitchcell was also asked whether or not he is a member of the Iona Institute (who reject the notion of same-sex marriages), which he also denied, however in September 2007, he did host a conference (''The Fragmenting Family'') on behalf of the Iona Institute.

See also

Families in the Oireachtas

References

External links

Gay Mitchell's page on the European Parliament website

{{s-ttl|title = Fine Gael Teachta Dála for Dublin South Central |years = 1981–2007}} {{s-ttl|title = Lord Mayor of Dublin |years = 1992–1993}} {{s-ttl|title = Minister of State (with special responsibility for European Affairs) |years = 1994–1997}} {{s-ttl|title = Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach |years = 1994–1997}} {{s-ttl|title = Member of the European Parliament for Dublin |years = 2004–present}}

Category:1951 births Category:Living people Category:Fine Gael politicians Category:Teachtaí Dála Category:Lord Mayors of Dublin Category:Members of the 22nd Dáil Category:Members of the 23rd Dáil Category:Members of the 24th Dáil Category:Members of the 25th Dáil Category:Members of the 26th Dáil Category:Members of the 27th Dáil Category:Members of the 28th Dáil Category:Members of the 29th Dáil Category:Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Category:Fine Gael MEPs Category:MEPs for the Republic of Ireland 2009–2014 Category:MEPs for the Republic of Ireland 2004–2009 Category:Irish presidential candidates

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