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Senator
Pippa Hackett
Senator Pippa Hackett
Minister of State
2020–	Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Senator
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 1 November 2019
Constituency	Agricultural Panel
Personal details
Born	8 January 1974 (age 50); County Mayo, Ireland
Political party	Green Party
Spouse	Mark Hackett
Children	4
Alma mater	Aberystwyth University; University of Essex; University College Dublin; University of Limerick;

Pippa Hackett (born 8 January 1974)^[1] is an Irish Green Party politician who has served as a Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine since June 2020. She is one of three Ministers of State in attendance at cabinet, but without a vote. She has been a Senator for the Agricultural Panel since November 2019.^[2]

Political career

Hackett joined the Green Party in around 2016, upon the recommendation of a neighbour of hers, Christopher Fettes, the party founder.^[3] At the 2019 local elections, she was elected to Offaly County Council for the Edenderry Area.^[4]^[5]

She was elected unopposed, as a Senator for the Agricultural Panel in a by-election on 1 November 2019.^[6]^[7] The vacancy was caused by the election of Senator Grace O'Sullivan to the European Parliament in May 2019.^[8]

She was an unsuccessful Green party candidate for the Laois–Offaly constituency at the 2020 general election, coming sixth in the five-seat constituency, with a total of 4,255 votes in the final count.

At the 2020 Seanad election on 30 March, she was re-elected to the Agricultural Panel. On the formation of a new government on 27 June 2020 between Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party, she was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with responsibility for Land Use and Biodiversity.^[9] She became the first senator to be appointed as a Minister of State and is one of three Ministers of State attending cabinet, a position commonly known as a super junior minister.^[10]

On 24 March 2021, Hackett was one of three Green Party senators to table a motion of no confidence against party chairperson Hazel Chu, after Chu announced her candidacy in a Seanad by-election as an Independent.^[11]

On 19 June 2024, Hackett announced her candidacy in the Green Party leadership election following the resignation of Eamon Ryan.^[12] A focal point of her campaign was improving the party's reputation among rural voters, claiming the party had an "image problem".^[13] She received several high profile endorsements, including from Brian Leddin, Ossian Smyth and Steven Matthews. She was defeated by Roderic O'Gorman who received 984 votes to her 912 votes.

Early life and education

Hackett was born in Galway, but is a native of Ballindine, County Mayo.^[14] During her time in Britain, she studied Equine Science at Aberystwyth University and Agriculture at the University of Essex. Back in Ireland, she studied a Postgraduate Diploma in Equine Science at University College Dublin in 1996,^[15] and gained her PhD in Sports Biomechanics at the University of Limerick.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

Hackett lives on a farm in County Offaly near Geashill with her husband Mark, whom she met at university in Essex, and their four children.^[14] Her husband was co-opted to take her seat on Offaly County Council.^[16] Her son, Charlie, ran unsuccessfully in the 2024 local elections.^[17]

References

^ "Pippa Hackett – green shoots". The Irish Field. 11 September 2020. Archived from the original on 8 March 2023. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
^ "Pippa Hackett". Oireachtas Members Database. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
^ "Offaly County Council: Big blow for Sinn Féin while Greens claim first seat". The Irish Times. 25 May 2019. Archived from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
^ "Pippa Hackett". ElectionsIreland.org. Archived from the original on 27 May 2022. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
^ "Green Party councillor Pippa Hackett elected to Seanad". Irish Independent. 1 November 2019. Archived from the original on 2 November 2019. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
^ "Green Party's Pippa Hackett elected to the Seanad". RTÉ News. 1 November 2019. Archived from the original on 3 September 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
^ "Seanad Éireann debate - Tuesday, 5 November 2019: Election of Member". Houses of the Oireachtas. 5 November 2019. Archived from the original on 24 August 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
^ "Vacancy in Seanad Membership: Motion – Seanad Éireann (25th Seanad) – Vol. 267 No. 3". Houses of the Oireachtas. 25 September 2019. Archived from the original on 18 October 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
^ "Appointment of Ministers of State" (PDF). Iris Oifigiúil. 2020 (54): 778–779. 7 July 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 August 2022. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
^ Oireachtas (Allowances) (Members and Holders of Parliamentary and Certain Ministerial Offices) Order 2020 (S.I. No. 613 of 2020). Signed on 8 December 2020. Statutory Instrument of the Government of Ireland. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book on 29 December 2020.
^ McQuinn, Cormac (25 March 2021). "Eamon Ryan 'tells Greens' no pact on supporting Coalition candidates for Seanad". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 25 March 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
^ "Pippa Hackett enters Green Party leadership race". Offaly Independent. 19 June 2024. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
^ O'Sullivan, Colman (30 June 2024). "Green Party 'has image problem', Hackett tells members". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^ ^a ^b Fox, Claire (8 June 2019). "'Origin Green is painting a false image to the world and it will come back to bite us' - newly elected Green councillor Pippa Hackett". Independent.ie. Archived from the original on 25 July 2020. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
^ "Pippa Hackett | Green Party". www.greenparty.ie. Archived from the original on 2 November 2019. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
^ "Offaly Farmer Replaces His Wife On Offaly County Council". Midlands103.com. 19 November 2019. Archived from the original on 22 November 2020. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
^ "Local elections 2024: County-by-county breakdown – mixed fortunes for parties and political dynasties". Irish Independent. 10 June 2024. Retrieved 12 June 2024. He tried to entice voters by releasing his own rap – but many appeared to switch off from Green Party candidate Charlie Hackett's message.

External links

Pippa Hackett's page on the Green Party website

Political offices
Preceded by Andrew Doyle	Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine 2020–present With: Martin Heydon	Incumbent