Bríd Rodgers

Template:Short description Template:Use Hiberno-English Template:Use dmy dates Bríd Rodgers (Template:Nee; born 20 February 1935) is an Irish nationalist former politician. She was born and raised in Gweedore in the west of County Donegal, Ireland.

Although born and brought up in a Gaeltacht area within the Republic of Ireland, she was politically active in Northern Ireland, where she was Deputy-Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) from 2001 to 2004, and a Member of the Legislative Assembly for Upper Bann from 1998 until 2003.

Political career

Rodgers was educated in Monaghan and University College Dublin (UCD), and has lived in Northern Ireland since 1960. She was involved in the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) from 1965. She was a founder member of the SDLP, becoming Chairman in 1978 and General Secretary in 1981. In 1983, she was nominated to Seanad Éireann by Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald, and served until 1987.

Rodgers was the leader of the SDLP team in the talks that led to the Good Friday Agreement. She was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly for the constituency of Upper Bann in June 1998. She was appointed to the first Northern Ireland Executive in November 1999 as Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, the first woman ever appointed as a full-ranking Agriculture Minister anywhere in Ireland; she remained in that position until the suspension of the Executive in October 2002. She became deputy leader of the SDLP in November 2001. She stood down as MLA at the Assembly elections of November 2003, and as deputy leader in February 2004, when she was replaced by Alasdair McDonnell.

Personal life

Rodgers was married to Antoin Rodgers until his death in 2021. They had six children. She is a distant relative of Irish American mobster Vincent Coll. She is a native Irish-language speaker and also speaks French and Italian.