Katharine Bulbulia

Katharine Bulbulia (née O'Carroll; born 4 July 1943)cite web |url=http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=1&HouseNum=17&MemberID=1172&ConstID=208 |title=Ms. Katherine Bulbulia |work=Oireachtas Members Database |accessdate=2008-02-09] [Her name is spelt "Katherine" (with an "E") in the [http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=1&HouseNum=17&MemberID=1172&ConstID=208 Oireachtas Members Database] , but as "Katharine" (with an "A") in McNamara and Mooney's book, on the [http://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=4046 ElectionIreland.org website] , and in the [http://www.crisispregnancy.ie/board.html website of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency] , of which she is currently the director. This article therefore uses the spelling "Katharine".] is a former politician from County Waterford in Ireland. She was a Fine Gael senator from 1981 to 1989, and subsequently joined the Progressive Democrats (PDs), serving from 1997 to 2006 as a senior aide to the party's leader.

She is now director of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency, a government-sponsored body planning and co-ordinating body established to formulate and implement a strategy to address the issue of crisis pregnancy in Ireland. [cite web |url=http://www.crisispregnancy.ie/about.html |title=About us |work=Crisis Pregnancy Agency website |accessdate=2008-02-09]

Early life and family

Bulbulia was born in Waterford, and educated locally and at the Sacred Heart of Mary convent in Waterford, before taking a diploma in household management at St. Mary's College in Cathal Brugha Street, Dublin (now the College of Catering of the Dublin Institute of Technology). She subsequently graduated from University College Dublin with a Bachelor of Arts degree (BA) and a Higher Diploma in Education (H.Dip.Ed), before working as a teacher.cite book |title=Women in Parliament: Ireland 1918-2000 |first=Maedhbh |last=McNamara |coauthors=Mooney, Paschal |publisher=Wolfhound Press |location:Dublin |year=2000 |isbn=0863277594 |page=p.193–194]

She is married to Dr Abdul Bulbulia, a general practitioner in Waterford. [cite news |url=http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2001/06/24/story129091928.asp |title=Bulbulia initiated abortion discussion |author=Emily O'Reilly |work=Sunday Business Post |date=24 June 2001 |accessdate=2008-02-09] They have one daughter and two sons.

Political career

A founder member of the Waterford branch of the Womens Political Association, Bulbulia joined Fine Gael in the late 1970s, when the party's leader Garret FitzGerald was encouraging more women to join. She stood as a Fine Gael candidate for Tramore in the 1979 local elections, where she topped the poll and became the first woman ever elected to Waterford County Council. She was later elected as well to Waterford City Council, and served from 1979 as a member of the South-Eastern Health Board. On the Health Board, she fought to overturn the blocking by local officials of the distribution of a book called "The Book of the Child", published by Ireland's Health Education Bureau, because it included a page about contraception. [cite web |url=http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/S/0137/S.0137.199307070007.html |title=Officila Report (Seanad Éireann), Volume 137, 7 July 1993, Kilkenny Incest Case: Statements |publisher=Oireachtas |accessdate=2008-02-09]

Bulbulia then stood unsuccessfully as a Fine Gael candidate for the Waterford constituency at three general elections: 1981, November 1982, and 1989.cite web |url=http://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=4046 |title=Katherine Bulbulia |work=ElectionsIreland.org |accessdate=2008-01-31] After her 1981 defeat, she was elected to the 15th Seanad Éireann on the Administrative Panel, and re-elected three times until her defeat at the 1989 election to the 19th Seanad.

Martin Cullen the Progressive Democrats TD for Waterford, defected to Fianna Fáil after the a dispute over candidate selection for the 1994 European Parliament election, and Bulbulia then joined the PDs. She stood as the PD candidate in Waterford at the 1997 general election, but again failed to win a seat. However, the Rainbow coalition government was defeated in the election, and a new coalition government was formed between Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats. Bulbulia was appointed as programme manager to the Tanaiste, PD leader Mary Harney, a post she held for nine years until Harney was replaced as leader in September 2006 by Michael McDowell. The job, which carried at the end a salary of €140,000 a year, involved daily liaison with the Taoiseach's programme manager, Gerry Hickey. That working relationship formed the main channel of communication between the two parties in the coalition. Bulbulia also played an important role in communicating with other members of the PD parliamentary party about the decisions taken at Government level. [cite news |url=http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2006/0915/1158271559227.html |title=Top Harney aide is to be replaced |author=Stephen Collins |work=The Irish Times |date=15 September 2006 |accessdate=2008-02-09]

Harney stayed on as Minister for Health after resigning the party leadership, and in November 2006 she appointed Bulbulia as chair of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency. [cite news |url=http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2006/1108/1162889033221.html |title=Harney names former aide to chair agency |author= |work=The Irish Times |date=8 November 2006 |accessdate=2008-02-09] The previous week, her husband Abdul had been appointed to a new Government technical advisory group on HIV/AIDS and other global communicable diseases. [cite news |url=http://www.munster-express.ie/local-news/bulbulia-new-chairman-of-crisis-pregnancy-agency/ |title=Bulbulia new chairman of Crisis Pregnancy Agency |author=Jamie O’Keeffe |work=Munster Express |date=17 November 2006 |accessdate=2008-02-09] He had previously been appointed by Brian Cowen (Harney's predecessor as Minister for Health) as a member of the Ireland Medical Council, where he initiated moves which led in 2001 to a softening of the Council's guidelines on abortion. [cite web |url=http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2001/06/24/story129091928.asp |title=Bulbulia initiated abortion discussion |author=Emily O'Reilly |date=24 July 2001 |work=Sunday Business Post |accessdate=2008-02-09]

Her appointment was criticised by the anti-abortion "Family and Life" group, who condemned Bulbulia for having opposed the 1983 pro-life amendment to the Constitution of Ireland. [cite web |url=http://www.familyandlife.org/Abortion-and-Embryo/260/8/16.html |title=Pro-Life Amendment Opponent New Chair of CPA |date=19 November 2006 |work=Family & Life website |accessdate=2008-02-09] The following year the agency came into conflict with the Catholic pregnancy counselling agency "CURA", when it refused to renew "CURA"'s €654,000 contract to provide advice to pregnant women. In 2005, "CURA" had stopped distributing the Agency's "Positive Options" leaflet after Bishops objected to its inclusion of information on abortion, in breach of its contract with the Crisis Pregnancy Agency, and in May 2007 Bulbulia said that it was up to CURA to look at the agency's terms and conditions to see if they could abide by them. [cite web |url=http://www.independent.ie/health/abortion-row-threat-to-cura-cash-996934.html |title=Abortion row threat to CURA cash |author=Eilish O'Regan |date=12 July 2007 |work=The Irish Independent |accessdate=2008-02-09] The contract was not renewed, and in October 2007 the Irish episcopal conference instructed its chief negotiator, Bishop John Fleming, not to sign a new contract with the Crisis Pregnancy Agency unless the church's "absolute" opposition to abortion was respected. [cite web |url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/bishops-seek-to-renegotiate-crisis-pregnancy-deal-1117341.html |title=Bishops seek to renegotiate crisis pregnancy deal |author=Eilish O'Regan |date=8 October 2007 |work=The Irish Independent |accessdate=2008-02-09]

References

External links

* [http://www.crisispregnancy.ie Crisis Pregnancy Agency] website

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