Go west: Woman from west Dublin eyes west London seat in Westminster

A woman from Greenhills near Walkinstown has been selected by the UK Labour Party to contest a safe seat in west London, putting her on course to be one of just a handful of Dubliners elected to the House of Commons over the past century.

Deirdre Costigan, a Unison trade union official and gay rights advocate who emigrated to London in the 1990s, is running for Labour in the constituency of Ealing Southall, which the party has held since 1983 with large voting majorities.

Ms Costigan is currently deputy leader of Ealing Council where she has responsibility for implementing climate change policies, and is also vice chair of the Labour Irish Society.

“If any of my family want to come over to help me canvass they would be very welcome,” joked Ms Costigan, who found out only last week she would be contesting the UK election on July 4th.

She comes from a “proud working class background” in Greenhills, where her parents, Dan and Teresa Costigan, still live. Her father is originally comes from Tipperary while her mother is from Greystones in Wicklow.

“We’re so proud of Deirdre and so happy for her,” said Teresa Costigan. “She has always wanted to change the world and make things better for working class families like ours. Everyone in Greenhills will be cheering her on.”

The opening for Ms Costigan came only after the election was called, when Virendra Sharma, who has held Ealing Southall since 2007, announced he would not seek another term. Ms Costigan was interviewed by officials from Labour headquarters last Thursday and received a phone call that night to say she had been selected.

Ealing Southall includes Hanwell, an area which in the past was home to many Irish immigrants and their descendants. However, the biggest ethnic group by far in the constituency is British Asians, with large numbers of Indian Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims living in the area.

“As an immigrant myself, I understand people just want their kids to have a better life,” said Ms Costigan, who also highlighted her work on rights for people with disabilities and her knowledge of the health service through her job at Unison, which represents large numbers of nurses.

Ms Costigan’s partner, Anu Prashar, is also involved in the trade union movement. Ms Prashar is also well known in London Labour circles and, along with Ms Costigan, she is a high-profile campaigner for the gay community.

Ms Costigan’s political journey began soon after she emigrated from Dublin in the 1990s, when she got involved with the Labour group in the south London borough of Merton. One of her mentors was Siobhain McDonagh, a daughter of Irish immigrants who has been an MP since 1997 and was a sister of the late Margaret McDonagh, a legendary political organiser and one of the architects of Tony Blair’s New Labour.

Ms Costigan is defending Labour’s 16,000 vote majority that Mr Sharma won in the last UK general election in 2019, making her a strong favourite to win.

Other Dubliners elected to the House of Commons in the last 100 years include former war correspondent, Jonathan Aitken, who became a Tory MP in 1997, and Edward Carson, an Ulster Unionist who represented a Belfast seat in the House of Commons until 1921.

Claire Tighe, a Mayo woman who also serves on Ealing council and is a former vice chair of the Labour Irish society, is contesting the Surrey seat of Spelthorne that was previously held by former chancellor of the exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng. But Ms Tighe faces a tough challenge to overturn a 19,000 Tory majority. Meanwhile Cork man Damien Egan, who won a byelection earlier this year, is Labour’s candidate in Bristol North East.