Mary Lou McDonald

Mary Lou McDonald TD
Teachta Dála
Incumbent
Assumed office 26 February 2011
Constituency	Dublin Central
Vice President of Sinn Féin
Incumbent
Assumed office 2009
Preceded by	Pat Doherty
Member of the European Parliament
In office June 2004 – June 2009
Constituency	Dublin
Personal details
Born	1 May 1969 (1969-05-01) (age 42) Dublin
Nationality	Irish
Political party	Sinn Féin
Spouse(s)	Martin McDonald
Children	2
Alma mater	Trinity College, Dublin, University of Limerick, Dublin City University

Mary Lou McDonald (born 1 May 1969 in Dublin) is an Irish politician, the current Vice President of Sinn Féin and a Teachta Dála (TD) for Dublin Central.^[1] McDonald was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP), from 2004–2009 representing the Dublin constituency.

Background

Mary Lou McDonald was educated in Trinity College, Dublin, the University of Limerick and Dublin City University studying English Literature, European Integration Studies and Human Resource Management.^[2] Her career to date has her involved in diverse roles, including consultant for the Irish Productivity Centre, Institute of European Affairs researcher and trainer in the Partnership Unit of the Educational and Training Services Trust.^[2]

Originally a member of Fianna Fáil, she left the party in 1998 in opposition to its economic and social policies. Her sister, Joanne, is a member of the republican group éirígí.^[3]

Dáil Éireann

McDonald first ran for office when she unsuccessfully contested the Dublin West constituency for Sinn Féin at the 2002 general election polling 8.02% of first preference votes. She was an unsuccessful candidate in the Dublin Central constituency at the 2007 general election. She contested the Dublin Central again in the 2011 general election this time picking up 13.1% of first preference; she was successful in picking up the last seat in the constituency ahead of the Fianna Fáil candidate Mary Fitzpatrick.^[4]

European Parliament

In 2004 McDonald became Sinn Féin's first Member of the European Parliament in the Republic of Ireland when she was elected at the 2004 European Parliament election for the Dublin constituency, receiving over 60,000 first preference votes.^[5] She served as one of two Sinn Féin MEPs (the other being Bairbre de Brún representing Northern Ireland). During her time in office she led the Sinn Féin "No" campaign against the Treaty of Lisbon, which was rejected in Ireland 2008. McDonald sat as a member of the European Parliament's Employment and Social Affairs Committee, and as a substitute of the Civil Liberties Committee. For the 2009 European Parliament election, the number of seats for Dublin in the European Parliament were reduced from four to three. McDonald was in a tight race for the last seat against Fianna Fáil's Eoin Ryan and the Socialist Party leader Joe Higgins. McDonald lost her seat to the Socialist Party candidate, being eliminated at the fifth count. Her first preference vote had declined to nearly 48,000.^[6] It was announced that she would be running in Dublin Central in the 2011 General Election, and she was elected as a TD on the eighth count.^[7]

Party activity

She is a member of the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle (party leadership), as of 2001,^[8] and is the party's Vice President, replacing Pat Doherty following the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis on 22 February 2009.^[9]

In September 2003, Mary Lou McDonald attracted criticism when she spoke at a rally in Dublin to commemorate Seán Russell, an IRA leader during World War II.^{[10][11][12][13]}

References

1. ^ "Ms. Mary Lou McDonald". Oireachtas Members Database. http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=0&HouseNum=31&MemberID=2298&ConstID=73. Retrieved 17 April 2011. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Mary Lou McDonald MEP Dublin". Sinn Féin Online. http://www.sinnfeinonline.com/representatives/382. Retrieved 25 May 2008. 
3. ^ "Éirigí: New kids on the republican block". Tribune.ie. 2009-08-09. http://www.tribune.ie/news/home-news/article/2009/aug/09/eirigi-new-kids-on-the-republican-block/. Retrieved 2010-06-17. 
4. ^ "Mary Lou McDonald". ElectionsIreland.org. http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?id=4800. Retrieved 14 April 2009. 
5. ^ "EU elections 2004 results – Dublin". ElectionsIreland.org. http://electionsireland.org/result.cfm?election=2004E&cons=524. Retrieved 14 April 2009. 
6. ^ "Ryan loses out to Higgins in Dublin". RTÉ News. 8 June 2008. http://www.rte.ie/news/elections/stories/2009/0608/euroelection.html. Retrieved 8 June 2008. ^{[dead link]}
7. ^ "Dublin Central". Election 2011 Results. RTÉ News. 28 February 2011. http://www.rte.ie/news/election2011/results/dublin-central.html. Retrieved 12 March 2011. 
8. ^ "MEP profile". European Parliament. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/archive/term6/view.do?language=EN&id=28111. Retrieved 30 December 2009. 
9. ^ "Ard Fheis 2009". Sinn Féin. http://www.ardfheis.com/?p=84. Retrieved 23 February 2009. ^{[dead link]}
10. ^ Cusack, Jim (6 June 2004). "SF's Nazi hero is stalking candidate Mary Lou". Irish Independent. http://www.independent.ie/national-news/sfs-nazi-hero-is-stalking-candidate-mary-lou-481013.html. Retrieved 25 May 2008. "SINN FEIN'S Mary Lou McDonald has been accused of "warped principles" for participating in a republican commemoration ceremony last year for a Nazi collaborator while standing as a candidate for the European Parliament." 
11. ^ McDonald, Henry (16 January 2005). "This dastardly plot". The Observer. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,1391492,00.html. Retrieved 25 May 2008. "Because if they had really wanted to shine a light into this very dark corner of Irish republican history then the vandals would have been better protesting in Fairview Park, holding seminars to discuss the IRA/Nazi links in the 1940s and publicly challenging anyone, including the Sinn Fein MEP for Dublin Mary Lou McDonald, who rushes to honour Russell as to why they feel it's alright to rally round a statue of one of Adolf Hitler's allies in World War Two." 
12. ^ Colgan, Paul; Neil Callanan. "Profile: Prime time Shinner". The Sunday Business Post. Archived from the original on 14 March 2004. http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2004/03/14/story766283063.asp. Retrieved 25 May 2008. "She encountered criticism after speaking at a commemoration for IRA volunteer Sean Russell last year." 
13. ^ Myers, Kevin (16 January 2005). "There are real Nazi lovers here: the IRA". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml;sessionid=BUVQ1P50JSPKHQFIQMGSM5WAVCBQWJVC?xml=/opinion/2005/01/16/do1606.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/01/16/ixportal.html. Retrieved 25 May 2008. "That she had delivered an encomium to a pro-Nazi stooge should have caused to her to be eaten alive by her rival candidates: imagine the consequences of a British politician rededicating herself to the cause of Oswald Mosley. Instead, the matter was never raised during the campaign that followed, lest it seem unseemly. She was duly elected to the European parliament, the only Euro-MP who retrospectively favours collaboration with the Nazis." ^{[dead link]}

External links

• Mary Lou McDonald's page on the Sinn Féin website

Oireachtas
Preceded by Cyprian Brady (Fianna Fáil)	Sinn Féin Teachta Dála for Dublin Central 2011–present	Incumbent
European Parliament
Preceded by Patricia McKenna (Green Party)	Member of the European Parliament for Dublin 2004–2009	Succeeded by Joe Higgins (Socialist Party)
Party political offices
Preceded by Mitchel McLaughlin	Chairperson of Sinn Féin 2005–2009	Succeeded by Declan Kearney
Preceded by Pat Doherty	Vice-President of Sinn Féin 2009–present	Incumbent

Persondata
Name	Macdonald, Mary Lou
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1 May 1969
Place of birth	Dublin
Date of death
Place of death