Matt Carthy

Matt Carthy
MEP
Member of the European Parliament
Assumed office
1 July 2014
Constituency Midlands–North-West
Monaghan County Councillor
In office
June 2004 – May 2014
Constituency Carrickmacross
Personal details
Born Matthew Carthy
(1977-07-19) 19 July 1977
Birmingham, England
Political party  Irish: Sinn Féin
 EU: GUE/NGL
Spouse(s) Lynn Carthy (m. 2009)
Children 5
Alma mater Dublin Institute of Technology
Website Official website

Matthew Carthy (born 19 July 1977) is an Irish politician who has served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Midlands–North-West constituency since 2014. He has been an activist in Irish republican party Sinn Féin since 1996. In the European Parliament, Sinn Féin is part of the European United Left–Nordic Green Left political group.[1]

Early and personal life

Carthy was born in Birmingham, England in 1977. His mother is from County Monaghan and his father from County Roscommon. The family moved to County Roscommon when Carthy was aged two, where he lived until he was 10. His family then spent a year living in Holywell in north-east Wales before returning to Ireland to live in Carrickmacross, County Monaghan.

He has described the experience of living on the Irish border during the conflict as playing a formative role in shaping his republican political views, and cites hunger strikers Bobby Sands and Kieran Doherty as major influences.[2]

Carthy studied marketing for a year at Dublin Institute of Technology where he formed a Sinn Féin college cumann (branch) in 1996. Carthy was a founding member of Ógra Shinn Féin (a Sinn Féin youth organisation) the following year. He worked as a full-time youth organiser for Ógra in Dublin in Sinn Féin's party headquarters, and as a press officer for Sinn Féin.

Carthy lives in Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, with wife Lynn and their five children.

Political career

He was elected as the first Sinn Féin member of Carrickmacross Town Council in County Monaghan in 1999, becoming the youngest elected representative in the country (21 years old) at the time.

In June 2006 Carthy was elected as the first Sinn Féin Mayor of Carrickmacross Town Council. He was a member of Monaghan County Council from 2004 to 2014, and was elected mayor of Monaghan County Council in 2008.

At the 2014 European Parliament election, Carthy won 17.7% of first-preference votes. He took the third of four seats in the Midlands–North-West constituency.

In the European Parliament Carthy is a member of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee (AGRI) and the Special Committee on Financial Crimes, Tax Evasion and Tax Avoidance (TAX3). He is a substitute member of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) and Transport and Tourism Committee (TRAN). He was a full member of the Panama Papers Committee of Inquiry for its duration from 2016–2017.

In 2015 he was appointed as Sinn Féin's Uniting Ireland project coordinator. He has been party whip in the European Parliament since 2014 and has been a member of the Ard Chomhairle (national executive) at regular intervals since 1998. He was the Sinn Féin Director of Elections for the 2016 general election.

On 26 April 2018, Carthy was selected to run as the Sinn Féin candidate for the Cavan–Monaghan constituency at the next Irish general election, following the announcement by sitting Sinn Féin TD Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin that he would not be contesting the next election. Carthy will not be contesting the 2019 European Parliament election.[3]

References

  1. ↑ McGee, Harry (27 May 2014). "Midlands North–West: Carthy takes third seat". Irish Times. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  2. ↑ O'Dwyer, Ella (22 June 2006). "Sinn Féin Mayor: Former Ógra activist looks forward to challenge". An Phoblacht. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  3. ↑ "Ireland set to gain two extra EU parliament seats after Brexit". RTÉ News. 12 June 2018.
European Parliament
New constituency Member of the European Parliament for Midlands–North-West
2014–present		 Incumbent
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.