Ms Adi Roche, the Labour Party nominee for the Presidency, formed her reputation for her work as founder of the Chernobyl Children's project, but says she hopes to cover a broad canvass as an independent people's candidate. Ms Roche was born in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, in 1955, the youngest of four children. In 1975, she joined Aer Lingus in the marketing department before she took voluntary redundancy in 1983 to work full-time as voluntary secretary of the Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
In the late 1970s, she married Sean Dunne, a teacher. At one stage, they were involved with the environmental body, Earthwatch.
In 1990 she became the first Irish woman to be elected to the board of directors of the International Peace Bureau, a non-governmental organisation based in Geneva. The same year, she initiated the Chernobyl Children's Project from her home in Cork and is its executive director. She remains vice-president of Irish CND.
The following year, she gave a keynote address to the Unesco Conference on Chernobyl and the Manchester International Peace Festival. She won the European Woman Laureate Award and the Irish Person of the Year award.
In succeeding years, she initiated the convoy teams to Chernobyl as well as the airlifting of sick children to other countries. Last year, she received the European of the Year Award from the then President, Mrs Robinson.