Hazel Chu
Hazel Chu is a trailblazing woman of firsts; she was the first Irish-born person of Chinese descent to be called to the Irish bar, the first Irish-born person of Chinese descent elected to political office in Ireland and the first person of colour in the role of Lord Mayor of Dublin out of 937 people who have held office.
In November I sat down with the Lord Mayor of Dublin for a 2020 interview via zoom to discuss herstory from entering the world in the Rotonda Hospital to taking up residence at the Mansion House.
The formative years….
Hazel was born in Dublin to parents who emigrated from Hong Kong. She grew up in the suburb Firhouse where she lived with her immediate and extended family totaling nine in a three bed house. It was ‘tight for space but cosy and a lovely close knit community.’ Her parents worked two jobs; her mother was a dishwasher and cleaner and her dad was a kitchen porter. Aged 6, the family moved to Cellbridge, County Kildare and her parents saved up enough money to buy a chipvan. Overall, she recalls that her childhood was good, but she did encounter sporadic elements of racism and was bullied in the playground with name calling.
Hazel and her family
For a young Hazel ‘politics was very far away’, the main concern for her parents was ‘to put food in the table’. Her experience is similar to many children coming from an immigrant family; the language barrier meant her family didn’t really watch the news. Subsequently, they didn’t know much about politics and didn’t discuss it, which Hazel says, ‘is a shame in some respect because it means that the world you view is smaller.’ Any T.V she watched were typical 80s hits such as Bosco and in later years LA Law and courtroom dramas. In school the subjects she liked during her Leaving Cert were Civics and History, especially Irish History. At this time she had an interest in studying Law. However, without the points to ‘get in’ she thought ‘there must be a way without doing the Leaving Cert again.’ Hazel opted to study Politics and History at University College Dublin before completing a legal diploma and barrister-at-law degree at King's Inns. By this stage though, Hazel was €20,000 in debt and took up full time work in the non-profit sector to repay the money before continuing onto the next phase of her legal career. In the interim, like many of her generation, she planned to travel but life did not go according to plan…
A tumultuous journey of courage and resilience…
Hazel had begun travelling when one of her best friends, Jane, passed away. Hazel’s intention had been to continue working, clear her debts and go to the bar. When Jane passed, she was completely lost. She says, ‘when you have that grief you think what do I do now?’ Hazel was fortunate to have had a supportive partner, her now fiance who encouraged her to ‘do what she needed.’ Hazel set off to teach in China for several months and do voluntary work which she describes as the best thing she has ever done in her life. Whilst she is ‘not advocating for people to run away to another country when they have issues, if you need space, take it.’
Hazel returned to find Ireland 2009/2010 in the depths of recession. All career avenues presented road blocks; she was advised that further training at the bar would be a waste of time due to lack of work, fundraising jobs were in crisis due to financial cuts. She helped her mum in the restaurant and did some consultancy work but then found herself on social welfare. Despite submitting many job applications, she faced rejection after rejection and there were days where she ‘left the house on the bus and sat in town and cried’ because she could find no work. It was ‘demoralizing and stressful.’
How did she keep going?
‘Because I had to. I was living with my mum… that woman will make you go find some work whether you want to or not. So I was lucky that I had that push from my mother and I am grateful for it.’ Also, my granny had a very hard life. My grandfather was an alcoholic and so she had to carry the family. She did everything from mining rocks in a nearby quarry to selling bananas and flowers and anything she could find as a trader. For my aunts and my mum it was very hard. My mum only went as far as mid-level secondary school and would cycle an hour every day to school and then an hour back before selling flowers in the market with my grandmother. Hearing the stories of my mum and grandmother set good examples as role models for me.
Then a friend sent though an email which changed the course of her life –
Bord Bia were advertising a coveted fellowship programme which was also a Masters in Marketing with UCD Smurfitt School. As a successful applicant Hazel spent a year in New York. Upon returning, the job application process began again but this time she secured a job in marketing; first in the Chief Scientific Advisors office, then in Communications and Marketing at the National Digital Research Centre before being picked up by Diageo as their Head of Communications for six years.
The journey into politics
In 2016 Hazel joined her partner Patrick Costello, TD in the Green Party. Hazel stresses that politics is a tough industry whether you are male or female but she recognises that for women it is tougher. This led her to become one of the founding members of their women’s group Mná Glasa which supports the running and representation of women in the Green Party to close the gender gap in politics. She says ‘if you look at the Greens’ parliamentary party make up, it’s not amazing; there are only two women TDs and 10 male TDs. But in our management committee and leadership there is strong female representation; our deputy leader is a female, our chair of the party is a female (me), our national co-ordinator and chair of the board is a female, and our general secretary is a female.’ Mother to one young daughter, Alex, Hazel cites childcare barriers as a difficulty for women. Another barrier is having the confidence to run in elections. She chairs an electoral task force to recruit future representatives and notes that if she ‘asks a guy to run they generally respond with enthusiasm whereas a woman is usually surprised at being asked.’
Fighting off racist abuse online…
When anyone enters into politics another difficulty is taking on a public position. Hazel has faced ‘constant’ online racist harassment, especially on Twitter. She says trolls and abusers think ‘it’s as though women who are different are fair game. Unless you are on the other side of this you have no idea.’ She tells me about an Amnesty report conducted after the UK elections in 2017 which revealed that ‘women got more online harassment than their male counterparts and women of colour got more than women.’ In 2020 The Irish Independent published an article on twitter accounts of 20 politicians across the country which were analysed from March to May of this year. It revealed that politicians from a minority background were trolled the most with Hazel Chu featuring in the top two. People hurl all sorts of personal insults and it has been said that she ‘should be deported.’ Her mantra is to ‘always call these people out’ and ‘the best way anyone can offer support is to reach and say what do you need, what can I help you with? Can I report that person?’
In June 2020 Hazel Chu became Lord Mayor of Dublin…
Hazel describes her road to the Mansion House ‘as very surreal and hectic.’ She is not only the first person of colour in the role but only the 9th female Lord Mayor of Dublin out of 937 in office. There is a suggestion that the official title of Dublin's Lord Mayor could be changed to remove gender. As it stands, the office holder is known as 'Lord Mayor' - while their partner is called 'Lady Mayoress'.
Hazel Chu on the Campaign Trail with her daughter, Alex.
Her aim in office is to establish three very simple things; the first is to fight the ongoing homelessness issue in the city. In response she has set up the homeless task force. She also aims to create a livable city with more sustainable transport. To achieve this goal she is working with the transport section. She also wants to tackle discrimination, especially racism. Between January and April 2021 she is working on a fit for purpose integration strategy that will help fight discrimination in the city. As she says ‘Ireland is a lovely country but we are not immune to racist rhetoric that other countries suffer. We can continue letting it become more polarised or we can try to fight against it, that is our job as politicians and members of the public’. She hopes that by the time her daughter Alex grows up, she will be living in a more inclusive and welcoming society where ‘people don’t call her names or don’t judge her by her skin colour first’.
We get a lot of school students reading the bios on our website. What do you want to say to them?
‘Keep the head up, I know it’s hard, it’s been a really, really tough year and I’m so sorry for all the stress you are going through. If anyone tells you that you can’t be something, don’t listen to them. You can take direction, you can ask for advice and decide what you want to be yourself. I think you can always be whatever you want to be.’
And lastly a piece of advice for all of us…we live in a very fast-paced world where there are many pressures placed upon us. Do you think that anyone can have it all?
‘I don’t think there is such a thing as ‘having it all’ but I do think there is an element of being happy with your yourself, it’s about priority and what your priority is. So if you are trying to have everything, I think you are constantly going to be chasing it and constantly wanting more. For me, it’s definitely not right but for some people, it maybe is right. I think some people want to have everything whereas, me, I’ll just be happy being happy with myself.’
Thank you to the former Lord Mayor of Dublin for giving of her time to participate in this interview (conducted by Fiona Lowe). On behalf of all at Herstory we wish you much continued success.
Photographs courtesy of the Office of the Lord Mayor of Dublin.
For more information on some of documents discussed and issues raised;
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/online-violence-women-mps
https://www.dublincity.ie/council/your-city-council/lord-mayor-dublin/contact-office-lord-mayor
https://www.immigrantcouncil.ie/campaign/anti-racism