Hazel Chu

Hazel Chu is an Irish Green Party politician and current Lord Mayor of Dublin. She is a member of Dublin City Council and is also chairperson of the Green Party, and formerly spokesperson on Enterprise.[1] She was the first Irish-born person of Chinese descent elected to political office in the Republic of Ireland.[2][3]

Cllr

Hazel Chu
Lord Mayor of Dublin
Assumed office
29 June 2020
Preceded byTom Brabazon
Chairperson of the Green Party
Assumed office
12 December 2019
LeaderEamon Ryan
Preceded byRoderic O'Gorman
Dublin City Councillor
Assumed office
24 May 2019
ConstituencyPembroke
Personal details
BornDublin, Ireland
Political partyGreen Party
Domestic partnerPatrick Costello
Children1
Alma mater
Websitegreenparty.ie/people/hazel-chu

Early life

Chu's parents both immigrated, individually, from Hong Kong to Ireland in the 1970s. They met while working in the kitchen of a restaurant in Dublin and subsequently married. Chu was born at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin City and raised in the suburb of Firhouse in South County Dublin and, later, Celbridge in County Kildare.[4][5]

Chu studied Politics and History at University College Dublin before completing a legal diploma and barrister-at-law degree at King's Inns. She was the first Irish-born person of Chinese descent to be called to the Irish bar,[6] although ultimately, due to having to repay the loan for her King's Inns fees, she went straight back to work in the not-for-profit sector, and did not practice as a barrister.[7] She spent part of a year as a volunteer teacher in a remote village in China, and another six months working in Australia.[6]

Non-political career

After graduating from King's Inns, Chu worked as an artist and production manager for Electric Picnic, a fundraising manager for St Michael's House, a marketing consultant in New York for Bord Bia, a marketing director for Forfás, and was advisor to the Office of the Chief Scientific Advisor, before working for the NDRC, and then Diageo Ireland, where she headed communications for six years.[8]

Political career

Dublin City councillor

Chu managed the campaign for her partner Patrick Costello's successful election at the 2014 Dublin City Council election, in which he topped the poll in the Rathgar–Rathmines LEA.[9] Chu stood as a Green Party candidate in the Pembroke LEA in the 2019 Dublin City Council election. She was the first candidate in the country to be declared elected. She topped the poll, receiving a historic 33.1% of the first preference vote.[2]

Lord Mayor of Dublin

On 29 June 2020, Chu was elected the 352nd Lord Mayor of Dublin, succeeding Tom Brabazon.[10] She made history as the ninth female and first person of colour in the role.[11]

Green Party

Chu became a member of the Green Party in 2016 and was subsequently elected to serve on the party's National Executive for three years running. In 2017 with TD Catherine Martin, MEP Grace O'Sullivan and others she founded Mná Glasa, the party's woman group, and became its Co-Chair. She was elected National Coordinator of the Green Party and became its Spokesperson for Enterprise in 2018. In November 2019 she was elected as Chairperson of the Party, beating Pauline O’Reilly of Galway West.[1]

Online harassment

Subsequent to her council victory and the media attention around it, Chu became a target of racist online harassment, particularly on Twitter. Her harassers labelled her a migrant, denied that she was an Irish national, and claimed she was a product of the so-called "great replacement", a conspiracy theory propagated by the alt-right. The harassment later escalated to phone calls to her home. Justin Barrett, leader of the far-right fringe group the National Party, publicly indicated that if he ever got into power, he would attempt to strip Chu of her citizenship.[12] Chu stated her resolution to not be intimidated by the harassment and to continue with her political career.[3][5][13][14]

Personal life

Chu resides in Dublin and is engaged to fellow Green Party member Patrick Costello, TD. They have one daughter. They met while studying at UCD.

References
  1. Quann, Jack (29 November 2019). "Hazel Chu elected Cathaoirleach of The Green Party". newstalk. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  2. O Neill, Bronwyn (31 May 2019). "Woman of the Week: How Hazel Chu made history this election season". evoke.ie. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  3. O’Donoghue, Denise (12 August 2019). "'This is happening in our own country': Dublin councillor Hazel Chu hits out at racist abuse and Nazi salutes". BreakingNews.ie. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  4. Fegan, Joyce (12 August 2019). "Presidential bid could be next as Hazel Chu pledges never to let racism stop her". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  5. "Hazel Chu". The Ryan Tubridy Show. 12 August 2019. RTÉ Radio 1. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  6. "Hazel Chu". ucd.ie. March 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  7. McMahon, Áine (13 August 2019). "My education journey: Hazel Chu – Dublin City councillor and Green Party co-ordinator". Irish Times. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  8. "Hazel Chu LinkedIn Profile". LinkedIn.
  9. O'Donoghue, Niamh (22 December 2018). "Women in politics: Hazel Chu could be the first ever Irish Born Chinese politician to be elected in the Irish State". image.ie. Retrieved 12 January 2020. I was politically active throughout college, but when I started my career I had less time to be involved in politics. That was until I met my now-husband, Councillor Patrick Costello, who wanted to run in the local elections at the time. We ran for the 2014 elections and were persistent with on-the-ground campaigning, and I did everything from his social media, to pitching to press and door-to-door canvassing. He topped polls that year and that spurred me on to think, “oh, I’m really good at running campaigns" … Running for election is the next natural course of action.
  10. Lord Mayor of Dublin [@lordmayordublin] (29 June 2020). "Cllr @hazechu has been elected the 352nd Lord Mayor of Dublin" (Tweet). Retrieved 29 June 2020 – via Twitter.
  11. RTE. "RTE News".
  12. O'Connor, Rachel (30 September 2019). "Irish far-right National Party leader doused with milkshake during event in Galway". Irish Post. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  13. "'Whether I'm Irish or not has nothing to do with them' - councillor Hazel Chu hits back at online trolls after 'threatening' messages". Irish Independent. 10 August 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  14. Hickey, Margaret (15 August 2019). "Hate is wrong, but it should not be criminal". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
Civic offices
Preceded by
Tom Brabazon		 Lord Mayor of Dublin
29 June 2020		 Incumbent
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