Preceded by Bairbre de Brun Political party Sinn Fein Role Politician | Name Martina Anderson Nationality Irish | |
 | ||
Similar People Lynn Boylan, Matt Carthy, Diane Dodds, Martin McGuinness, Jennifer McCann | ||
Martina anderson vs dup uup tuv sdlp ap
Martina Anderson (born 16 April 1962) is an Irish politician in Northern Ireland who is a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) representing Northern Ireland for Sinn Féin. She became involved in the Irish Republican movement in the late 1970s, is a former volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and was in prison for IRA activity for 13 years until she was released as a condition of the Good Friday Agreement. After her release, she became involved in politics for Sinn Féin. She was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Northern Ireland from 2007 to 2012, representing Foyle. She served in the Northern Ireland Executive as a Junior Minister at the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister from 2011 to 2012. In 2012 she became a Member of the European Parliament, and she was reelected in the 2014 election.
Contents
- Martina anderson vs dup uup tuv sdlp ap
- stick your border where the sun doesn t shine martina anderson mep to british prime minister
- Biography
- Political career
- References
stick your border where the sun doesn t shine martina anderson mep to british prime minister
Biography
Anderson was born in the Bogside in Derry, Northern Ireland, into a large family with a tradition of Irish republicanism. Her father was a Protestant. She has six sisters and three brothers, one of whom, Peter, is a Sinn Féin councillor.
Anderson was arrested aged 18 leaving a furniture store in Derry and charged with possession of a firearm and causing an explosion. She was released on bail after spending two months in Armagh Women's Prison, and fled across the border to Buncrana in County Donegal.
Anderson was again arrested on 24 June 1985 at a flat in Glasgow with four other IRA members including Brighton bomber Patrick Magee. On 11 June 1986, all five were convicted of conspiring to cause explosions in England, although Magee was the only person convicted in relation to the Brighton hotel bombing.
In 1989, Anderson married fellow prisoner and IRA member Paul Kavanagh at Full Sutton Prison. By 1993 she was one of just two female category A prisoners in England, the other being fellow republican Ella O'Dwyer. In 1994, she was transferred from Durham Prison in England to Maghaberry Prison in Northern Ireland. On 10 November 1998, Anderson was released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
Political career
In 2007 Anderson was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly as a Sinn Féin member for Foyle, along with Raymond McCartney.
In May 2007 Anderson became one of the first Sinn Féin members to join the Northern Ireland Policing Board.
In December 2007 Anderson said she was concerned that large numbers of migrant workers from mainly Catholic countries were being classed as 'Catholic/nationalist' in monitoring forms, rather than 'other'. She said "Given that the entire basis of the legislation around monitoring was put in place to identify imbalances in the workforce between the local Catholic/nationalist and Protestant/ unionist communities it is therefore vital that given the addition of migrant workers in the workforce, that they should clearly be categorised as having a community background of 'other'." Employment monitoring by the Equality Commission records solely religion, and not political affiliation.
She occupies the post of Director of Unionist Engagement for Sinn Féin
She was selected by Sinn Féin to fight the Foyle constituency at the 2010 Westminster General Election. She lost to the SDLP incumbent, Mark Durkan, by 5,000 votes (11% of the vote). In May 2012 it was announced that she would be replacing Bairbre de Brún, as MEP for Northern Ireland. Anderson retained her MEP seat in the 2014 election, topping the poll with 159,813 first-preference votes.