Michelle Gildernew

Michelle Gildernew MP
Gildernew in 2007
Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development
In office 8 May 2007 – 5 May 2011
Leader	Gerry Adams
Preceded by	Bríd Rodgers
Succeeded by	Michelle O'Neill
Member of Parliament for Fermanagh and South Tyrone
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 June 2001
Preceded by	Ken Maginnis
Majority	4 (0.01%)
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Fermanagh and South Tyrone
In office 25 June 1998 – 7 July 2012
Preceded by	none; position created
Succeeded by	Bronwyn McGahan
Majority	7,026
Personal details
Born	(1970-03-28) 28 March 1970 Dungannon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
Nationality	Irish
Political party	Sinn Féin
Spouse(s)	Jimmy Taggart
Alma mater	University of Ulster
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Website	Michelle Gildernew MP

Michelle Gildernew (born 28 March 1970) is an Irish Republican Sinn Féin politician and former Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Northern Ireland Executive. She has been the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Fermanagh and South Tyrone since 2001 and was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Fermanagh and South Tyrone between June 1998 and July 2012.^[1]

Gildernew is Sinn Féin's health spokesperson and has been a member of the party's Ard Chomhairle (National Executive). In the 2007–11 Assembly, she served as Vice Chair of the Committee of Social Development and was a member of the Committee of the Centre as well as of other statutory and ad-hoc committees.^[2]

Education and background

Born in Dungannon, Gildernew attended St Catherine's College Armagh and later the University of Ulster, Coleraine. After graduating from university, she travelled extensively in Europe, the United States and Australia, where she worked for a year. She is married to Jimmy and is the mother of two boys, Emmet and Eunan, and one girl, Aoise, born in October 2008.

Gildernew is one of ten siblings from a Republican family based at the "Gildernew farm complex" (as described on Ordnance Survey maps) in County Tyrone.^[2] During the 1960s, the family were leading figures in the civil rights campaign and took part in the 1968 protest in Caledon, County Tyrone over housing discrimination.^[3]

Political career

On returning to Northern Ireland in 1996, Gildernew was the second-placed but unsuccessful candidate for Sinn Féin in the Forum elections for Fermanagh and South Tyrone.^[4] The following year, she was appointed Sinn Féin representative to London and was part of the first Sinn Féin delegation to visit Downing Street. In the 1998 Assembly elections, she was elected MLA for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, retaining the seat in the 2003 and 2007 elections.^[5]

Gildernew is a Republican activist and has campaigned on women's and mothers' rights.^[6]

Election to Westminster

In the 2001 UK general election, Gildernew was elected to Parliament as Member for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, defeating the Ulster Unionist candidate James Cooper by just 53 votes. In the 2005 election, she was re-elected and increased her majority to 4,582 votes, but, in the 2010 election, the Democratic Unionists, Ulster Conservatives and Unionists and Traditional Unionist Voice all chose not to field candidates and she held her seat by only four votes against independent Unionist Rodney Connor. The Social Democratic and Labour Party's vote, meanwhile, was halved.^[7]

According to the Times Guide to the House of Commons, Gildernew is popular across the sectarian divide in one of Northern Ireland's most polarised constituencies.^[8] Like all Sinn Féin MPs, Gildernew follows a policy of abstentionism and does not take her seat in Parliament.

Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development

During her time as Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Gildernew dealt with problems such as an outbreak of bluetongue disease. She also increased cross-border co-operation with the Republic of Ireland on farming issues.^[9]

2011 Irish presidential election

In September 2011, the Belfast Telegraph reported that Sinn Féin was considering Gildernew as their candidate for the that year's Irish presidential election.^[10] In the event, Martin McGuinness stood for Sinn Féin.

Support for Seán Quinn

In a July 2012 interview for the The Impartial Reporter, Gildernew defended embattled businessman Seán Quinn, saying that "[h]e has been treated disgracefully by the Irish Government. Had they not tried to strip him of all his assets, including his home, deny him the ability to function in business, and routinely try to humiliate him I believe he would have paid back every penny he owed to the Irish taxpayer".^[11] Quinn, the former head of the privately-owned QUINN group (now Aventas), was declared bankrupt in January 2012.^[12] (With loans worth around €1.2 billion from the Anglo-Irish Bank, the QUINN group was exposed by its collapse and, on 30 March 2010, the High Court appointed joint provisional administrators to Quinn Insurance Ltd.^[13])

Sinn Féin distanced themselves from Gildernew's comments made with Mary Lou McDonald that the Quinns had engaged in illegal business practices.^[14]

Personal life

Gildernew has stated that in addition to spending time with family and friends, she enjoys cooking and a wide range of outdoor activities.^{[citation needed]} She is a member of the Aghaloo Gaelic Athletics Association club in County Tyrone. She is a speaker of the Irish language.

References