Barry Ward is a Fine Gael Senator, representing the Dún Laoghaire constitutency. Having served on Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council from 2009 to 2020, Barry was elected to the Seanad on 2 April 2020, and is the Fine Gael Spokesperson on Justice.
Barry has worked hard in public life for accountability and subsidiarity, fighting to make politics work for you.
During his time on the Council, he worked on various issues such as parking, parks, public transport, cycling, disadvantage, the local economy (particularly the reduction of commercial rates and management of the local property tax), and sound financial management, as well as specific local issues.
Barry is the leading proponent of the Sutton to Sandycove coastal promenade (S2S) – he proposed, and was elected Chair of, a Joint S2S Committee between Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County and Dublin City Councils in 2015, which made significant progress on the cycleway.
Barry has fought hard for gender and marriage equality, and drafted his own bye-laws to give effect to legal change on DLRCoCo.
From Deansgrange, Barry is a barrister by profession and a graduate of UCD, the University of Paris, the Smurfit School of Business in Blackrock, and King’s Inns. He has served as a member of the UCD Governing Authority, the IADT Governing Body, the Council of King’s Inns, and the Irish delegation to the EU Committee of the Regions.