You can watch videos of Paschal HERE and The Sunday Independent published a profile of him HERE.
Paschal is married with two young children and lives in Shandon Park, Phibsborough. He was elected to Seanad Eireann in 2007 and is the Fine Gael Seanad Spokesperson on Transport. Paschal is Chair of the Ireland’s Future in Europe Oireachtas Sub-Committee. As a Senator he is a member of the Transport and European Affairs Oireachtas Committees. He is the Sunday Business Post Senator of the Year 2008 where he described as ‘one to watch’.
Paschal has written and spoken widely about the challenges facing our country and the solutions to them. He wrote and published a report on Sovereign Wealth funds for the Oireachtas EU Affairs Committee, available HERE. He was Chairman of the Committee that produced a widely praised report on Ireland’s future on Europe, available HERE. Other publications included book reviews on economic and political matters (Thoughts of a Ball Room Dancing Economist, Supercapitalism) and public service reform.
He contested the Dublin Central Bye Election caused by the sad death of Tony Gregory. In this election he increased his vote to 10,198 votes. In this bye election Fine Gael secured more votes than any other political party.
Click the image to read an profile of Paschal in the Sunday Independent Business Section:
Paschal was a member of Dublin City Council from 2004 to 2007. During this time he served as Chair of the Environmental Policy Strategic Policy Committee, as a member of the Corporate Policy Group and also served as Chairman of the Central Area Committee. Paschal contested the General Election in 2007 for Dublin Central where he polled the 4th highest number of first preferences.
He was educated at St Declan’s CBS, Cabra and Trinity College, Dublin. Paschal has a 1st class degree in Politics and Economics. After graduation he worked in the UK and Ireland and became the Sales & Marketing Director for a multinational company. He resigned from this role in 2006 to contest the General Election.
MY CULTURAL LIFE
published in Magill in 2008
What was the last good film you saw? What sort of films do you most like to watch?
Ridley Scott’s recent American Gangster was brilliant with superb performances from Russell Crowe and Denzil Washington. The on-screen chemistry and tension between the two leads was reminiscent of Pacino and DeNiro in Heat, another old favourite of mine. My young son Oscar is horse obsessed so film adaptations of Black Beauty are well loved in our home.
What was the last good book you read? What sort of books do you most like to read? Has any one book particularly influenced your life or political thinking?
I love books on politics and economics and usually have at least two or three on the go at any one time. Alan Greenspan’s biography ‘The Age of Turbulence’ and Geoff Mulgan’s ‘Good and Bad Power : The Ideals and Betrayals of Government’ have been provocative and informative reads recently.
Perhaps the most influential books on my political life have been ‘The Time of my Life’ by the former Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer Denis Healy and ‘Skeff :A life of Owen Sheehy Skeffington’, a previous member of Seanad Eireann. These books are both very good at illustrating the rewards and moral demands that a career and life in politics creates.
For fun, I love American and European crime fiction. The last gripping novel I have read was ‘Tin Roof Put Down’ by James Lee Burke. It is the most recent in a superb series featuring New Orleans detective Dave Robicheaux fighting against a cast of evil miscreants. I love to browse in Chapters bookstore in Parnell Street and recent discoveries there have been the crime writers Henning Mankell and Arnaldur Indridason.
Do you go to the theatre? If so, what sort of plays do you like?
Unfortunately I have not been able to get the theatre since the arrival of my son nearly three years ago which is a real shame because contemporary Irish drama is of such a high standard. The works of Conor McPherson and Martin McDonagh would be amongst my favourites, I’ve seen great performances of The Lieutenant of Inishmore and Shining City.
What music do you most enjoy listening to?
I have a very wide but hopefully discerning music taste. Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, The Waterboys and Neil Young have been the soundtrack to my life. More recent favourites include Arcade Fire, the Hold Steady and Elbow.
My great love of Americana and Country and Western is sometimes a source of despair to my friends and family with Gram Parsons, Ryan Adams and Emmylou Harris always on my iPod. On the stereo at home at the moment are ‘Boys and Girls of America’ by the Hold Steady and ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’ by Elbow in anticipation of the Dublin gigs they are playing.
What are your favourite television programmes?
Political life means that I am out working most week nights so nearly all of my television viewing is done through DVD box sets. Unsurprisingly, The West Wing is my favourite programme. Other favourites are Dr Who, Entourage, Heroes and 24. I am really looking forward to watching The Wire. I find high quality American drama series just unbeatable.
Are you interested in the visual arts? If so, who are your favourite artists?
The Hugh Lane and the Irish Museum of Modern Art are regular family haunts, and my bias is definitely towards modern art. My favourite artist is Ireland’s Martin Gale, his hyper-real landscapes are awesome to look at and provide a wonderful commentary on aspects of modern life in Ireland today.
You are banished to a desert island and can only take one book, one movie and one piece of music – what would they be?
The movie would be ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ I think the hopeful and uplifting tone would be very appropriate for life on a desert island. The book would be the omnibus of His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman, the richest and most subversive contemporary fiction that I have read. Music would have to be ‘Forty Licks’ by the Rolling Stones. The peaceful sound of lapping waves on the beach would be more appreciated if Mick, Keith, Ron and Charlie were there to occasionally shatter it for me.
