Elisha McCallion (; born 21 October 1982) is an Irish former

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gr ...

politician who served as a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

for the

Industrial and Commercial Panel The Industrial and Commercial Panel ( ga, An Rolla Tionscail Agus Tráchtála) is one of five vocational panels which together elect 43 of the 60 members of Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Oireachtas (the legislature of Ireland). The Ind ...

from April 2020 until October 2020. She previously served as Mayor of Derry from 2015 to 2016, a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for Foyle from 2017 to 2019, and as a

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...

(MLA) for Foyle from March 2017 to June 2017.

Early life

McLaughlin was born on 21 October 1982 in Galliagh, Derry,

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

, and grew up there in a republican family; her aunt is Martina Anderson. Her father is a painter and decorator, and her mother is a former bar manager. She has a brother and a sister. McLaughlin attended Galliagh Nursery School, Lenamore Primary School (now St. Therese's Primary School), and

Thornhill College Thornhill College is a Roman Catholic grammar school for girls. Located in Derry, Northern Ireland, it has a student population of approximately 1500 and a staff of 100 teachers. History The nucleus of the present Thornhill College commenced ...

in Derry. She joined

's youth wing Ógra Shinn Féin at the age of 15 and stated that the

Drumcree conflict The Drumcree conflict or Drumcree standoff is a dispute over yearly parades in the town of Portadown, Northern Ireland. The town is mainly Protestant and hosts numerous Protestant/ loyalist marches each summer, but has a significant Cathol ...

prompted her interest in politics. She went on to study Irish History and Politics at the further education institution

North West Regional College North West Regional College is a further education and higher education college in the north-west region of Northern Ireland. The college has five main campuses in counties Londonderry and Tyrone: Strand Road (Derry), Springtown (Derry), Ma ...

, and complete a bachelor's degree in

Community Development The United Nations defines community development as "a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems." It is a broad concept, applied to the practices of civic leaders, activists ...

at Ulster University. Her first job as at the Galliagh Independent Advice Service from which she went on to work for the Galliagh Development Trust and the Galliagh Women's Group.

Political career

McLaughlin was elected as a Sinn Féin councillor for Shantallow on Derry City Council in 2005 aged just 23. She was re-elected in 2011 and in 2015 she became the first Mayor of Derry & Strabane. McCallion supported the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

remaining within the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

(EU) in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. In March 2017, she was elected as a

(MLA) for Foyle winning the seat previously held by former deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness. She resigned as an MLA in June to stand as an MP in the 2017 general election. She became the MP for Foyle following the 2017 general election with a majority of 169 votes. The seat had been represented by former leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP)

Mark Durkan Mark Durkan (born 26 June 1960) is a retired Irish nationalist politician from Northern Ireland. Durkan was the deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland from November 2001 to October 2002, and the Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour ...

since 2005, and had been represented by the founder of the SDLP John Hume prior to this from its formation in 1983. McCallion was the first female MP to represent the constituency. She did not sit in the House of Commons per Sinn Féin's longstanding policy of abstentionism. She was defeated by Colum Eastwood, the current leader of the SDLP, in the 2019 general election by a majority of 17,110 (36.3%). In April 2020, she was elected to the

26th Seanad There are 60 members of the 26th Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament). Of these, 49 were elected on a restricted franchise, polls closing on 30–31 March 2020; subsequently the remaining 11 members were nominat ...

in the Republic of Ireland, topping the poll on the

with 95,000 votes on the first count. In October 2020, it was revealed that three Sinn Féin bank accounts which had erroneously received UK government COVID-19 small business grants had failed to return them promptly. One of the three was for McCallion's former Westminster office, and on 28 October she resigned from the Seanad after accepting she should have acted sooner as she was responsible for the account.

Personal life

She married Declan McCallion in 2009. He works as a welder. She chose to take on his surname in 2011. They have three sons.

References

External links

Sinn Féin page
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:McCallion, Elisha 1982 births Living people 21st-century women politicians from Northern Ireland Female members of the Northern Ireland Assembly Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Northern Irish constituencies Mayors of Derry Members of the 26th Seanad 21st-century women members of Seanad Éireann Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Londonderry constituencies (since 1922) Northern Ireland MLAs 2017–2022 Sinn Féin councillors in Northern Ireland Sinn Féin MLAs Sinn Féin MPs (post-1921) Sinn Féin senators UK MPs 2017–2019 Women mayors of places in Northern Ireland