Bairbre de Brún

Infobox MEP
name=Bairbre de Brún
honorific-suffix = MEP


parliament = European
constituency_MP = Northern Ireland
term_start= 2004
term_end=
predecessor=Ian Paisley, John Hume & Jim Nicholson
successor=
birth_date=birth date and age|1954|1|10
birth_place=Dublin, Ireland
constituency=
party=Sinn Féin
spouse=
website= [http://www.sinnfein.ie/euteam/candidate/debrun Bairbre de Brún MEP]

Bairbre de Brún (born 10 January 1954 in Dublin) is one of two Sinn Féin MEPs and the first Sinn Féin politician to represent Northern Ireland in the European Parliament. She sits with the European United Left - Nordic Green Left.

Ms de Brún qualified as a French and German teacher and is also noted for her devotion to the Irish language, which she speaks fluently. She has lived in the Andersonstown area of Belfast since the early 1980s.

From 1998 to 2004, she was a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, in one of the seats for West Belfast. She served as Minister for Health, Social Services and Public Safety in the power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive from November 29, 1999 to October 14, 2002, when devolution was suspended.

External links

* [http://www.sinnfein.ie/euteam/candidate/debrun Official Sinn Féin biography]
* [http://www.europarl.eu.int/members/public/geoSearch/view.do?country=GB&partNumber=1&zone=Northern+Ireland&language=EN&id=28511 European Parliament profile]
* [http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+CRE+20040721+ITEM-001+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN&query=INTERV&detail=3-029 Maiden Speech : European Parliament - 21 July 2004]