Niamh Cosgrave is a former Fine Gael

Fine Gael

Fine Gael is a centre-right to centrist political party in the Republic of Ireland. It is the single largest party in Ireland in the Oireachtas, in local government, and in terms of Members of the European Parliament. The party has a membership of over 35,000...

 party politician from Dublin, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

.

The daughter of former Fine Gael Teachta Dála

Teachta Dála

A Teachta Dála , usually abbreviated as TD in English, is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas . It is the equivalent of terms such as "Member of Parliament" or "deputy" used in other states. The official translation of the term is "Deputy to the Dáil", though a more literal...

 (TD) Michael Joe Cosgrave

Michael Joe Cosgrave

Michael Joe Cosgrave is a former Irish Fine Gael politician. He was a Teachta Dála for the Dublin North East constituency, and also served as a local councillor.Cosgrave was educated at St...

, she was briefly a member of the Seanad Éireann

Seanad Éireann

Seanad Éireann is the upper house of the Oireachtas , which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann . It is commonly called the Seanad or Senate and its members Senators or Seanadóirí . Unlike Dáil Éireann, it is not directly elected but consists of a mixture of members chosen by...

. After standing unsuccessfully in the Dublin North Central

Dublin North Central (Dáil Éireann constituency)

Dublin North–Central is a parliamentary constituency represented in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish parliament or Oireachtas. The constituency elects 3 deputies...

 at the 1997 general election

Irish general election, 1997

The Irish general election of 1997 was held on Friday, 6 June 1997. The 166 newly elected members of the 28th Dáil assembled on 26 June 1997 when a new Taoiseach and government were appointed....

, she was one of eight new senators nominated by outgoing the Taoiseach

Nominated by the Taoiseach

The composition of Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Oireachtas of Ireland, is defined in outline by Article 18 of the Constitution of Ireland, which provides for 11 appointees that are nominated by the Taoiseach...

, John Bruton

John Bruton

John Gerard Bruton is an Irish politician who served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 1994 to 1997. A minister under two taoisigh, Liam Cosgrave and Garret FitzGerald, Bruton held a number of the top posts in Irish government, including Minister for Finance , and Minister for Industry, Trade,...

, to the 20th Seanad on 13 June 1997 to replace senators who had been elected to the 28th Dáil. After her nomination, the Seanad met only once (on 10 July 1997) before it was dissolved. In the 1997 Seanad elections, Cosgrave stood for election on the Labour Panel, but failed to win a seat.

At the 1999 local elections

Irish local elections, 1999

The 1999 Irish local elections were held in all the counties, cities and towns of Ireland on 10 June 1999, on the same day as the European elections.- Results :18 Workers' Party councillors had left the party in 1992 upon the creation of Democratic Left...

, Cosgrave was elected to Dublin Corporation

Dublin Corporation

Dublin Corporation , known by generations of Dubliners simply as The Corpo, is the former name given to the city government and its administrative organisation in Dublin between 1661 and 1 January 2002...

 as a councillor for the Donaghmede

Donaghmede

Donaghmede is a residential suburb of Dublin, in the province of Leinster, Ireland.-Location:Donaghmede is situated approximately to the north east of the Dublin city centre, and is in the constituency of Dublin North East...

 ward. She was re-elected in the 2004 local elections to the renamed Dublin City Council

Dublin City Council

Dublin City Council is the local authority for the city of Dublin in Ireland. It has 52 members and is the largest local authority in Ireland. Until 2001, it was known as Dublin Corporation.-Legal status:...

, but in July 2005, the Fine Gael party withdrew the party whip

Whip (politics)

A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy...

 from her after she did not vote when Dublin councillors elected the next Lord Mayor of Dublin

Lord Mayor of Dublin

The Lord Mayor of Dublin is the honorific title of the Chairman of Dublin City Council which is the local government body for the city of Dublin, the capital of Ireland. The incumbent is Labour Party Councillor Andrew Montague. The office holder is elected annually by the members of the...

. In 2006, sitting as an independent councillor, she voted against Paddy Bourke, the Fine Gael-supported Labour Party

Labour Party (Ireland)

The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in the Republic of Ireland. The Labour Party was founded in 1912 in Clonmel, County Tipperary, by James Connolly, James Larkin and William X. O'Brien as the political wing of the Irish Trade Union Congress. Unlike the other main Irish...

candidate for Lord Mayor. This produced a tied vote tied between Bourke and the independent councillor Vincent Jackson, which was resolved in Jackson's favour by drawing names from a hat.

In June 2006, it was revealed that Cosgrave had the worst attendance record of any city councillor, having 17 out of 33 meetings in the preceding two years. In September 2007, she was removed from membership of the council for non-attendance, having attended no meetings for six months. She was replaced by Pat Crimmins.