Newham Borough Liberal Democrats

Dublin Dee on the up

The Lib-Dem chair of the London Assembly talks exclusively to DIARMAID WILLIAMS - 07/07/10

Dublin-born Dee Doocey was recently elected chair of the London Assembly. It's quite an achievement but one earned through years of honest toil with the Liberal Democrats.

She spoke to us about her life so far and her new role, where one of her challenges includes keeping the reins on Mayor Boris Johnson.

Apart from just after the Second World War, has there ever been a more difficult time to be involved in a government party? The Liberal Democrats have recently been voted in for their first stint in decades, but Doocey embraces rather than recoils from the challenge ahead.

"I always think that, generally speaking, it is so much better when you can make a big difference and you can tend to do that in any walk of life, not just in politics, if things have gone wrong.

"I know that sounds a bit perverse but I'm sure you know what I mean. If things aren't particularly good when you take over, then it's much more marked and you can make that difference."

Normally when you hear someone tell you that they are a workaholic, you might get suspicious as to how truthful they're being but after listening to her exhaustive set of responsibilities it's apparent that Doocey likes to work a great deal.

She has been on the London Assembly for six years and prior to her new role she was Chair of the Economic Development and Tourism Committee.

She has every confidence in those entrusted with carrying the Lib-Dem side of government, having worked alongside the likes of new Business Secretary Vince Cable as an agent.

Growing up in Dublin, she says, she saw the irresponsibility that has led to the present shambles, albeit on a smaller scale.

"People have been living with a false sense of security that somehow it would all just go away. I saw it growing up In Ireland. We were very poor, but people were buying stuff on HP that they just couldn't afford and you think; did it never occur to them that at some stage they would have to pay it off?

"Then of course you get all the loan companies coming saying do you want more. It's just a variation on that. The banks behaved in the most appalling way and not just the banks, credit card companies, anybody that's giving credit.

"How many times have you heard the story of the vicar or the priest who can't get credit because they've never had credit so they're not somebody they want to deal with? But you find somebody who has defaulted on this loan or that loan and they think wonderful because they can make a fortune charging interest. Then on the other hand they won't lend to businesses that are sound, small businesses because they won't take the risk."

Doocey comes from humble origins and her background, growing up in frugal times has helped provide plenty of perspective. She grew up in Drumcondra, on Pearse Street, and as she puts it 'not the nice bit of it, the other end!'

"We were very poor because my father was a saxophonist. You couldn't get work in Ireland. You basically had the pantomime and the summer season and after that there was nothing going. It wasn't sustainable so he was in England on his own, sending money home every week.

"My mother was always resisting his pleas to move to London saying 'oh no we'll all lose our religion, and we'll all be kidnapped.' Eventually when I was 17 we moved to Islington."

With an actress mother and a musician dad, poverty was something with which the family was more than familiar. Still, she says she fell into politics by accident and not through any great social conscience.

Her mother Sheila Griffin was an actress on the great Dublin stages - the Gate, the Gaiety and the Abbey.

When Dee arrived in London at the age of 17, she was not immediately won over by the city. But eventually she changed her mind. After joining the Liberal Party she became the party's finance director for the next ten years - she simply had an aptitude for maths - rising to become financial adviser for the Parliamentary Party.

Perhaps, it is suggested, she will need all her experience to manage the eccentric persona of one Boris Johnson.

"It is difficult to describe. Dealing with Boris privately is very different from dealing with Boris publicly. He's perfectly charming and rational in discussion and perfectly good conversationally. But I think he plays to the gallery."

Dee Doocey has her own ideas on where the axe should fall when it comes to economic cuts.

"The first thing I would do is abolish cars and chauffeurs for senior police officers which are costing £2 million a year. That would pay for 30 extra police officers. I'd then take out consultants and vast numbers of press officers.

"Too often when looking to make cuts the focus falls on lower levels instead of the senior levels. Frankly, I think some of the senior management could go and no one would notice."

Family both in London and Ireland have been celebrating Dee's success in a way that has left her humbled. She's been receiving texts from younger family across the water and says the pride the family feel in her progress has been a revelation. She looks forward to her twice yearly visits to Dublin and her husband's home town of Mountrath.

Asked what more she would like to achieve, Doocey jokingly replies, "I'd love to be Prime Minister", before revealing the philosophy that appears to have served her well: "I've always taken it as it comes."