Ciarán Cuffe (born 3 April 1963) is an Irish politician who is a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Ireland for the Dublin constituency since July 2019. He is a member of the Green Party, part of the European Green Party. He previously served as a Minister of State from 2010 to 2011. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dún Laoghaire constituency from 2002 to 2011. Background and personal life He was born in Shankill, Dublin, the son of Luan Peter Cuffe and Patricia Sistine Skakel. Luan Cuffe was an architect who was involved in town planning for Dún Laoghaire and Wicklow before taking over his brother-in-law's architectural practice. Luan Cuffe trained in Harvard University under Walter Gropius where he met Patricia Skakel whom he married. Through his mother Patricia, Cuffe is a grandson of George Skakel, a founder of Great Lakes Carbon Corporation, and a nephew of Ethel Skakel Kennedy. His cousins include the children of Ethel and Robert F. Kennedy. Cuffe's granduncle was the Fianna Fáil TD Patrick Little, and his great-granduncle Philip Francis Little was the first Prime Minister of Newfoundland in 1854. Cuffe is a member of the Dublin Cycling Campaign and has cycled coast-to-coast across the United States. Education He attended the Children's House Montessori School in Stillorgan, Gonzaga College in Ranelagh, the University of Maine at Orono, University College Dublin, and the University of Venice. Cuffe has degrees in architecture and urban planning from University College Dublin. He teaches a masters programme in urban regeneration & development at the Dublin Institute of Technology, Bolton Street. In 2019 he completed an MSc in cities at the London School of Economics. Political career Early political activism Cuffe joined the Green Party in 1982, and campaigned with Students Against the Destruction of Dublin in the 1980s. He was twice elected to Dublin City Council, in 1991 and 1999, for the South Inner City electoral area. In 1996, he launched a free bikes scheme in which bicycles were placed around Dublin city centre for use by the public. Dáil Éireann (1997–2010) He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Dublin Central constituency at the 1997 general election, but was elected to the Dáil Éireann (lower house) at the 2002 general election for the Dún Laoghaire constituency. In June 2003, he stepped down as the Green Party's environment spokesperson after it was revealed that he held shares