Personal

Born in Wexford, Dick is married to Eleanor Griffin from County Mayo. Dick and Eleanor have four children, three sons and one daughter. The family home is in Bray, County Wicklow.

Educated at Wexford CBS, the National College of Art and Design and University College Dublin, Dick holds a DPA, a Bachelor of Commerce Degree and a Masters Degree in Public Administration.

Before entering the world of politics Dick worked in the Public Service and as a College Lecturer in University College Dublin.

As a public servant Dick served in the Departments of Post & Telegraphs, Transport & Power, Finance and in the Department of Economic Planning & Development.
During his career in the civil service Dick held officer positions in a number of Public Service Unions.

In 1978 Dick Roche won a United Nations Human Rights Fellowship, the first Irish citizen to do so. His fellowship was spent in the United States and Canada studying the establishment and operation of Ombudsman Offices and related Human Rights Agencies. Dick became an Associate Member of the International Ombudsman Institute.
In 1978 Dick was appointed to the staff of University College Dublin as a Lecturer in Public Administration & Public Finance. In addition to lecturing on the Irish Public Service and its finances, Dick lectured at both undergraduate and post graduate level on the evolution and institutions of the European Union.

In the early 1980s Dick was engaged as a consultant with the OECD’s Public Management (PUMA) programme.

In 1978 Dick also became a member of the Irish Commission for Justice and Peace. He later served as Chairman of the Commission.

Passionately interested in human rights issues, Dick was actively involved in the Birmingham Six, Guildford Four and the Maguire Seven cases. He represented the Irish Government as an official observer at the final appeal of the Birmingham Six in the Old Bailey, London. Dick was a patron of the Irish - East Timor Solidarity Campaign.

Dick served as a member of the Governing Body of the Carlow Institute of Technology for a number of years; he was also a member of the Education Committee of the Institute of Public Administration.

National Politics

Dick was first elected to the Dáil Eireann for the Constituency of Wicklow in 1987. He was re-elected in 1989, 1997, 2002 and 2007. Dick headed the poll in the General Elections of 2002 and 2007.

While a backbench member of Dáil Eireann Dick served as Chairman of the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Strategic Management Initiative, the oversight Committee on public service reform. He also served as Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on State Sponsored Bodies.
Dick was an active member of other Parliamentary key committees including the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Enterprise & Transport and on the Dáil Committee on Procedures & Privileges.

Dick led the Irish Delegation to the Assembly of the Western European Union. He served for a period on the Assembly's Presidential Commission.

In 1992, Dick was elected to Seanad Eireann on the Administrative Panel. While a member of Seanad Eireann Dick was the Fianna Fail spokesperson on Public Service Reform. He was also the party Seanad spokesman on Finance.

In Seanad Eireann, Dick introduced a Freedom of Information Bill in Private Member's time. The Bill was given unanimous support by the Seanad at Second Reading. It preceded publication of the Government’s Freedom of Information Bill by several months.
 Ministerial Appointments

In 2002 Dick was appointed Minister for European Affairs. He was appointed to the same office for a second term in 2007.

During the period of his first appointment as Minister for European Affairs, Dick was a key player in the highly successful Nice II Referendum Campaign. He was also responsible for the preparation of Ireland’s much acclaimed European Union Presidency. Dick led Ireland’s delegation at the Convention on the Future of Europe.

Dick played a leading role in the Government’s 2008 and 2009 Lisbon Treaty Referendum campaigns.
Dick’s work in Europe is widely recognised in Ireland and internationally. In his seminal work on the Convention on the Future of Europe, Peter Norman describes Dick’s appointment to the Convention as providing “the small countries with a fluent and rugged advocate”.
Dick has been decorated by the French and the Estonian Governments for his work on European Integration. His work was also recognised  by the Assembly of the Western European Union.

Between September 2004 and June 2007 Dick served as Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government. While Minister for the Environment Dick was responsible for a number of striking initiatives including:

• Publication of Ireland’s first Climate Change Programme 
• Publication of revised building energy standards 
• Revision of the Retail Shopping Guidelines, a change that allowed for the establishment of IKEA at Ballymun, Dublin 
• Establishment of the Affordable Homes Partnership 
• Establishment of an integrated approach to the provision of local authority housing through sustainable communities 
• Establishing an innovative self financing scheme for the recycling of waste electronic and electrical equipment 
• Revision of the Planning Guidelines governing the building of housing in rural areas 
• Preparation of Regulations implementing the EU Nitrates Directive, bringing Ireland into line with the rest of the EU after over a decade of delay 
• The comprehensive updating of Irish legislation on water services – the first major updating of legislation in this key area since the foundation of the State 
• Regulations governing illegal dumping and the remediation of sites on which illegal dumping has occurred 
• Establishment of the Irish Heritage Trust 
• Designation of 16 Moore Street, Dublin, the last meeting place of the Irish Provisional Government during the 1916 Easter Rising, as a National Monument.
   

Local Politics

Dick was elected to the first Greystones Town Commission in 1984, having led the campaign to win Town Commission status for Greystones.

In 1985 Dick was elected to Wicklow County Council and was re-elected to both County Council and Town Commission in every election up to the time he was appointed Minister for European Affairs in 2002.

Dick also served on the County Wicklow Vocational Educational Committee and the Eastern Health Board.

Interests

Music, reading and swimming: Dick is a Life Governor of the Irish Water Safety.