Name Mary Banotti Education Hunter College | Nationality Irish Spouse Giovanni Banotti Full Name Mary O'Mahony Role Irish Politician Children Tania Banotti | |
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Board member of International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC); Vice Chair | ||
Mary Elizabeth Banotti (born 29 May 1939) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician.
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Early life and education
Mary O'Mahony was born in Dublin. She is a sister of the former Cabinet Minister Nora Owen and a grand-niece of the Irish political leader and rebel Michael Collins.
Career
Following her education she worked as a nurse in North America, England, Italy and Africa before joining Irish Distillers as an occupational health nurse and Industrial Welfare Officer in 1972. She is divorced for many years from her Italian husband.
Between 1980 and 1984 she presented a weekly programme on social welfare rights and information on RTÉ television. Banotti unsuccessfully contested the Seanad Éireann elections of 1983 and the Dublin Central by-election the same year.
Politics
In 1984 she was elected to the European Parliament, representing Fine Gael in the Dublin constituency. She retained her seat until her retirement at the 2004 European elections. She was Fine Gael's candidate in the 1997 presidential election, coming second to Fianna Fáil's Mary McAleese. In 1999, She also was the UNFPA's Goodwill Ambassador on reproductive health.
Philanthropy
Banotti is a member and Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), a global nonprofit organization that combats child sexual exploitation, child pornography, and child abduction.
She is also currently the Honorary President of Health First Europe, and a member of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems' board.