Gay Mitchell MEP

Gay Mitchell MEP for Dublin is a member of the Development Committee of the European Parliament and sits on the EU-ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) Assembly. He is currently joint coordinator for the EPP Group in the Development Committee. He led the negotiations for Parliament on the Development Cooperation Instrument which is now the legal basis for relations between the EU and developing countries.

He is also the only Irish MEP on the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee and the Financial, Economic and Social Crisis Committee. He has handled the crucial report on the European Central Bank and was appointed to oversee Parliament's report on the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

He was first elected to Dáil Éireann (Irish Parliament) at the age of 29 and stood down in 2007 after 26 years as a TD (Irish Member of Parliament). He is a former Minister for European Affairs and negotiated the Amsterdam Treaty on Ireland's behalf. He is a former Chairman of the Oireachtas (House of Representatives) Committee on European Affairs and its European Scrutiny Sub-Committee. He was Chairman of the Dáil's Public Accounts Committee from 1987 to 1993 and played a leading role in reforming the role of the Comptroller and Auditor General which brought about value-for-money audits. Gay Mitchell is the author of "By Dáil account", the first book published in Ireland on the history and role of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the great office of Comptroller and Auditor General.

He is a former Lord Mayor of Dublin.

He holds an M.Soc.Sc. (Political Studies) from Queen's University (Belfast) and a M.Sc. (Accounting and Finance) from Northampton University.