NEWLY ELECTED FINE Gael MEP for Midlands North-West Nina Carberry is just one of the well-known faces that has left the spotlight for a stint in Irish politics.
A former champion jockey, she became a household name after appearances on Dancing with the Stars and Ireland’s Fittest Family.
Her new job is somewhat different – representing a population of more than 600,000 in the Midlands North-West constituency.
The star power approach has worked for Fine Gael and more recently with Fianna Fáil, who have both selected ‘celebrity’ candidates to run.
Speaking to The Journal as she begins her work in the European Parliament, Carberry says she is eager to get on with the work, setting out her priorities regarding fighting for farming communities, reforming horse passport regulations, and protecting jobs which she feels are at risk due to the Dublin Airport passenger cap.
Carberry, who has a seat on the Committee on Tourism and Transport in the European Parliament, told The Journal that she is very worried about the passenger cap and the impacts it will have on business and jobs.
“We were an island country,” she said, stating that the “we rely on our aviation”.
She raised concerns that the current passenger cap at Dublin Airport may breach the EU-US Open Skies Agreement, which guarantees fair competition and unrestricted access for airlines between Europe and the United States.
Following discussions with senior officials from the European Commission and DAA this week, Carberry emphasised the need for urgent action to ensure Ireland’s compliance with international aviation standards and to protect its role as a key global aviation hub.
Thinking with her “tourism cap on”, Carberry said she is “disappointed that you see so much push to attract people to Ireland, and that I worry in the next couple of years how it’s [the passenger cap] going to really affect businesses”.
She said it is “definitely” going to be a knock-on effect on jobs.
“So that’s a real worry,” Carberry added, agreeing that a few heads need to knocked together as the disagreement has been “going on too long now”.
“They need to come to an understanding. They need to work together. It seems like there’s no dialog there at all and things need to happen quicker, rather than later, because people are going to lose jobs, and it’s disappointing to see that,” she said.
While the new MEP doesn’t appear to be afraid to speak her mind on such matters now, prior to her election, there were accusations levelled at Fine Gael that it was wrapping Carberry in cotton wool and keeping her quiet on the campaign trail.
Carberry denies that she was kept behind the curtain during the election campaign, stating that she instead focused on the people on the ground.
She told The Journal that she had a different perspective on the campaign trail, stating that she played her part in debates and did hustings for the IFA and the Chamber of Commerce in Meath, as well as appearing on RTÉ’s Six One News.
“To be honest, I was out on the ground every single day. I worked really, really hard to meet as many people as I could. As you know, it’s 15 counties, it’s very hard. And to be honest, my focus was on the people, and at the end of the day, they elected me, and I was very proud of they got behind me.”
Speculation prior to the European elections was that Fine Gael would be fighting to keep sitting Fine Gael MEP Maria Walsh’s seat, but the party romped home with two seats.
In fact, Carberry’s votes was a big talking point of the election, with the Meath woman getting 98,872 votes, just shy of her running mates 100,781 votes.
But while the summer gave new MEPs a chance to bed in to their new role, the hard graft for the next five years begins now. So what’s on her agenda?
“I will be fighting hard for the future of our farmers,” said Carberry, who stated that as she has a seat on the Budget Committee her focus will now be on CAP negotiations.
She wants to ensure that young people are incentivised to stay in the farming industry, stating that currently “it’s very, very dire looking”.
“People are getting older, and there’s no one coming through, so that’s my worry,” she added.
“If we don’t have a good CAP, there’s no future for farming at home. We as a rural community, rely on our farmers. It’s connect us all,” she said.
There needs to be an end to the “red tape” both at European and national level, she added, stating there needs to be a simplification of in how farmers can obtain grants.
“It’s taking too long for farmers to actually access these schemes… some people are trying to make ends meet and then employ someone to actually try and make the applications for them,” she said.
The Meath woman said many farmers are “throwing in the towel” and when asked if enough is being done to support farmers, she said “it’s catch up time” and a lot is being thrown at farmers right now.
“I do think that the anaerobic digestion could be one thing that they [the government] need to get behind a lot more. It would take the pressure off slurry storage. Making sure that they’re supported in that would help obviously with more fuels down the line and more renewable energy.”
Agriculture has the largest emissions of any domestic sector in Ireland, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, accounting for 38.5% of total national emissions in 2022, with industry accounting for 17%.
The survey found attributing global warming to industry was much more prevalent in Ireland – at 50% – than internationally. Industry accounted for 17% of Irish greenhouse gas emissions in 2022.
Carberry said she thinks farmers have a massive part to play in terms of sustainability and renewables. Asked about the European Green Deal, she said:
“I’m not against it at all. We need to, we need to become more sustainable. We need more biodiversity, more environmentally friendly, absolutely. But I do think they [farmers] need time on the ground for implementation. I think they need time. I think just as a lot is coming at them at this minute in time.”
It’s been a few months since the election, but Carberry said she feels like it was the right decision to enter politics, stating that she is looking forward to the next five years.
When questioned about online abuse that politicians, particularly female public figures experience, Carberry said: “The online abuse is out of this world, you just can’t look at it, but then at the end of the day, we need to promote ourselves and show what we’re doing”.
“And so it is hard to balance that and to try and not let it, you know, eat at what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to do good things, and you’re trying to do well. So yeah, there is a balancing act with that. But I suppose as a jockey as well, I got quite a bit of that. Growing up from a very young age. You get it quite a lot. Now, bear in mind the social media coverage probably wasn’t there until towards the end of my career, and I was well established, so I didn’t really see it as much.
“But as I’m coming into politics, you’re there to prove yourself, and you’re trying to prove yourself. And I do see that social media has a big part to play. And yeah, it’s very tough to look at that, but you know, you have to put it aside, and you have to do the job.”
She agreed with Taoiseach Simon Harris that more needed to be done to hold social media companies to account and that financial penalties will soon apply.
“Rightly so, the likes of the Taoiseach and Minister for Justice getting those threats is just not acceptable,” she said, stating that it was not right that they should feel threatened in their own home.
Speaking about her own work-life balance, splitting her time between Ireland, Brussels and Strasbourg, Carberry said she knows it will be challenging.
“I have two girls, Holly and Rosie. So yeah, that was quite hard. Since I’ve been back here [Brussels], they’re at school, so I think it makes a little bit of difference the fact that they have a routine and I’m back in a routine. It’s not going to be easy. I’m going to have to try and balance it a lot and make sure I have family time as well. It’ll be challenging, but we work with it. I have a great husband, and he’s a great supporter. I think that really makes a difference.”
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