Meadhbh makes her mark in politics

Meadhbh studied History & Political Science at Trinity College Dublin and driven by a desire to work in politics did some work experience while in Dublin, gaining a few tips about how to get her foot in the door and after university she began working for an Alliance MLA in East Belfast, Judith Cochrane.

“I spent about 4 months in her constituency office and Judith was an amazing advocate for me. She also helped put me in touch with another MLA, John McCallister – both Judith and John were working on Private Members’ Bills, John on the Assembly Opposition Bill and Judith on the Licensing Bill - and I was able to assist with those, while also undertaking a research remit on any of the assembly business.”

Judith stepped down as an MLA ahead of 2016 election and in the same election John lost his seat, proving just what an unstable business politics is and after the 2016 Assembly Election Meadhbh began working for East Antrim Alliance MLA, Stewart Dickson, becoming more involved with the party with a snap assembly and a snap general election in 2017.

“I was motivated by both the work in politics, and politics itself and I don’t think I could have worked for any party. Alliance was an easy choice and a big part of that was the Liberal Democrat connection. Even from studying politics at school, I always felt that the Lib Dem position appealed to me and Alliance has a close link to that liberalism and share the same core values”

The collapse of the Assembly in January 2017 could have dented Meadhbh’s drive but instead it gave her a push to make the next step.

“At this point I’d been working with MLAs in the Assembly for over two years. The collapse of the Assembly provided an opportunity to make a move to London to try to pursue my career in politics”.

So how did she make this happen, was it a shot in the dark?

“I had a little bit of help from a Sullivan connection” she laughs.

“I had spotted a job with the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords on the party website and applied. I got through to the second round of interviews and travelled over to London. One of the people who had interviewed me first time around was also on the panel for the second and at the end of the interview, when they were showing me out I asked about the Northern Ireland accent I could hear.

"It turned out that they were from Holywood and, of course, went to Sullivan.

"I didn’t get that job in the end but shortly after they got in touch to say that there was another job coming up that they would like me to apply for. I did and got the job which was based in the Liberal Democrats Whips’ Office in the House of Lords.”

In this role Meadhbh was an employee of the party and was based in an office within the Palace of Westminster.

“This was my first big step into party politics where I was attending the conferences and frequently in HQ for meetings.

"It was a great place to work. Unlike the House of Commons, the Peers in the House of Lords don’t have funding for their own staff so I was in a team of five people working for around 100 Peers as their staff operation.

"It was a really busy role, more organisational work than I had done before, for example, putting out the whip every week and making sure people were where they were supposed to be for votes. At the House of Lords the timetable can change three times during the day so I was never quite sure what I would face each day, you had to think on your feet the whole time.”

Meadhbh pictured with the statue of Irish parlimentarian Henry Grattan in Westminister.

Meadhbh had been at the Whips’ Office in the House of Lords for just under a year when in 2018 an opportunity came up to move to a different role, this time within HQ, and she was encouraged apply.

“I was very happy in the Whips’ Office and surrounded by the most wonderful people but this was a step up and a step into the heart of the operation to become one of the one of the party’s political advisors and to take on some more responsibility.

“It was also a chance to get into what I was really interested in, research, writing speeches and getting involved in the policy making processes.”

Meadhbh got the job and became a lead on Health and Social Care policy but also did some of the work on issues relating to Northern Ireland, especially round Brexit.

“I have a real interest in Health and Social Care and it’s something that I’m quite passionate about. The Lib Dems are particularly strong around mental health policy, they have really pushed it in government and that lines up nicely with my interest in challenging misconceptions around mental health and pressing for more investment and resource.”

Scenes from a pre-election event to mark the Lib Dems Mental Helth Policy with then Leader, Jo Swinson

Meadhbh was in that role for the next few years, through the lead up to Brexit and the 2019 General Election.

“It was a very hectic time in politics; the seemingly endless back and forth around Brexit, politicians moving parties, change of leadership with in the Lib Dems and a constant feeling that there could be an election at any time. It was intense.”

“As someone who likes politics and loves the drama of it all, there was no shortage of it!” laughs Meadhbh.

“But I learnt so much in this period and was surrounded by good people. Politics get a bad rap but everyone is there for the right reason and wants to make a difference. There’s just, at times, a difference of opinion around how to get there and perhaps about exactly about where you want to go.”

In March 2020, just like many others, Meadhbh and her team moved to working from home.

“Before the pandemic we never thought that ours was a job you could do remotely, you had to do in person, right in heart of Westminster, but we moved to 100% working from home as soon as pandemic hit.”

Meadhbh, who didn’t want to be stuck in London on her own returned to Northern Ireland where she continued to work for the party from home, and then decided that she wanted to stay in Belfast.

“I decided to leave my job with the Lib Dems and started a Masters in International Public Policy at Queens in September 2020. There was definitely a temptation to stay for another election cycle but many of my friends were also moving on and it seemed like the right time to make a change.”

Belfast based, and regularly in touch with her friends from Sullivan, Meadhbh is currently combining work on her Masters’ dissertation with a job working with local council bodies across Northern Ireland. There she is focused again on policy, although this time around its implementation rather than development. She’s adding yet another string to her bow.