The journalist who exposed malpractice in the beef industry that led to the establishment of a tribunal of inquiry in the 1990s, is to run for the Labour Party in the European Parliament elections.
Susan O’Keeffe will run in the Ireland North West constituency in the June 5th poll, the party said today.
She was assistant producer on Granada TV's World in Actionprogramme from 1990 to 1995. Two films on the Irish beef industry broadcast in 1991 ultimately set in motion a three-year tribunal of inquiry.
In 1995 she was threatened with prison for refusing to reveal her sources on the beef industry story.
Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore said Ms O’Keeffe was “a person of the highest integrity and remarkable courage with an outstanding record as a campaigning journalist”.
“She is remembered in particular for the role she played as in exposing mal-practices in the beef industry which ultimately led to the establishment of the Beef tribunal.
“It is one of the more shameful episodes in the history of the state that despite all the revelations at the tribunal, Susan was the only one who faced prosecution, as a result of her principled refusal to reveal her sources of information.”
Ms O’Keeffe said her core beliefs of equality and fairness had driven all the work she had done as a journalist.
“By joining the Labour Party I will be able to direct these values towards building a more honest political system which favours, not just the brave, but the weak, the poor and the old,” she said.
“I want to contribute to building a fairer Ireland and a fairer Europe where working together means just that.”
Ms O’Keeffe was born in Dublin in 1960 and was educated at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Mount Anville and University College Cork.
In the course of her career as a journalist, she also worked for The Irish Times, the Sunday Press, Irish Press, the Sunday Tribune, Business & Finance, Irish Business, Hot Press,and the Sunday Business Post.