In the 1989 general election, Betty Coffey was 20-something votes short of being elected ahead of her party colleague Brian Hillery. Then running for Fianna Fáil, Coffey is a remarkable person who campaigned on a liberal agenda from her base in Dún Laoghaire in south county Dublin.  Her campaign motto was: “Straight talk about social justice and solid jobs.” Married at 19, Coffey’s father was a Catholic who was excommunicated when he married her mother, a Protestant. Her uncle Jack fought for the British army against fascism in World War II. She said she became interested in politics because, when…

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