Mildred Fox has been serving the people of County Wicklow in Dail Eireann for the last 12 years. In 1995 she won the Wicklow by-election which took place following the untimely death of her father, Johnny Fox. Mildred held her seat in the general elections that followed in 1997 and 2002. In November, Mildred announced that she would not be seeking re-election to the Dail in the 2007 General Election.

Mildred lives in Co. Wicklow with her husband Daryl Tighe and their three children.

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1. After 12 years as a TD, what will you miss most about it?
I will miss the varied nature of the job. The fact that no two days are the same keeps it interesting. I will miss the people I get to meet, especially the strange ones!

2. What has been the highlight of your career so far?
The five years 1997 to 2002 was an interesting and challenging time for me, and brought most rewards in terms of delivering projects to the constituency. I cant pin point any one thing, but would have to say that I feel quite proud every time I drive past Kilcoole Secondary School (Colaiste Craobh Abhainn) and know that it wouldn’t be there if I hadn’t demanded it. I was told by senior politicians who didn’t want it there at the time, that it would make history, that it would be the “only school in Ireland with no pupils.” Lets just say that they were proven wrong.

3. Who would you like to see take your seat in the next Dail and why?
Nobody. Wicklow should return to a four seater!!! You hardly think I’m going to answer that one!

4. You are now in the ice cream making business. How did that come about and where can people get some of your ice cream?
The ice cream idea came about for a few reasons. Firstly when I lived in America, I couldn’t get over the amount of ice cream parlours, and the flavours and variety of ice cream when all we had here was a block of vanilla or raspberry ripple. Then I realised that every time we were away around Europe and even England, that there was ice cream everywhere. My brother is a dairy farmer so has access to the main ingredients milk and cream. We can easily obtain fruits etc, so I hounded him to give it a go. Eventually he saw the light, and more importantly an ad in the Farmers Journal, inviting farmers to come look at an ice cream making machine in Holland. Like a number of dairy farmers, he decided to go and look at the process. He was converted!

Our ice cream will all be home made on our farm in Calary. A number of Dairy farmers around the country are doing the same as ourselves, and each farmer has a region, so we don’t undercut each other. Our region is Dun Laoighaire, Blackrock and South County Dublin (Anywhere without a number as part of Dublin address) Unfortunately Wicklow is not part of our region, 3 Wells Dairy from Aughrim got there before us, but their ice-cream is exactly the same as our own, and once you try either Fox’s Farmhouse ice cream or 3 Wells ice cream, no other ice cream will be that same again!!

5. I wish I was there when…. (pick a moment in time you would like to have witnessed)
Michael Dwyer giving the British the slip at Derrynamuck.

6. Your 3 ideal dinner guests?
Germaine Greer, Dairina Nuttall and John Travolta.

7. The best piece of advice I ever received….
Godfey Timmins once told me that if somebody was annoying me, to keep smiling at them, and it would annoy them more than cursing at them.

8. If you could change one thing about the world, what would you do?
Obviously eradicate world hunger. It is heartbreaking to think that so many children starve and die of AIDS every few minutes in Africa, in a world where we can send man to the moon, we cant solve water and food shortages.

9. If you could change one thing about Ireland, what would you do?
Here in Ireland, I would force us all to spend a day in time 50 years ago. Many of us have so selfish and self-serving. We have come on so well in terms of our economy and personal wealth, but we have sacrificed so much on a social level. So many young people including my own children are growing up thinking that poverty is not having leather seats in the car. A trip back in time to show people that things weren’t always like this would do no harm.

10. Do you believe in Karma?
Yes.