Mairead McGuinness (born 13 June 1959) is an

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politician serving as the

European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union The European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union is the member of the European Commission responsible for banking and finance. The current officeholder is Mairead McGuinness. Responsibilities T ...

since October 2020. A member of

Fine Gael Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil � ...

, she previously served as First Vice-President of the European Parliament from 2017 to 2020. She served as a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

(MEP) for

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from 2004 to 2014 and for Midlands–North-West from 2014 to 2020, making her Ireland's longest serving MEP. In the

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, she sat with the European People's Party (EPP).

Education and media career

McGuinness was the first female graduate of

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...

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degree in Agricultural economics in 1980. In 1984, she completed a diploma in accounting and finance and followed a career in the media before entering politics in 2004. She worked as a researcher on '' The Late Late Show'', as a presenter on RTÉ's '' Ear to the Ground'' and '' Celebrity Farm'', a journalist with the '' Irish Farmers Journal'' and editor of the '' Irish Independent''s farming supplement. In 2014, McGuinness was awarded UCD Alumnus of the Year for Agriculture and Food Science.

Political career

Member of the European Parliament, 2004–2020

In early 2004, McGuinness declared her intention to seek a nomination for the

European Parliament election Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Unti ...

for Fine Gael. This followed speculation linking her to a similar move for the

Progressive Democrats The Progressive Democrats ( ga, An Páirtí Daonlathach, literally "The Democratic Party" ), commonly referred to as the PDs, was a conservative-liberal political party in the Republic of Ireland. Launched on 21 December 1985 by Desmond O'Ma ...

. At the selection convention in February 2004, she was selected to run alongside

Avril Doyle Avril Doyle (; born 18 April 1949) is a former Irish Fine Gael politician who served as a Minister of State from 1986 to 1987 and from 1995 to 1997. She served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1999 to 2004 and 2004 to 2009, a Te ...

. This proved controversial, as it was widely expected that Fine Gael could win only one of the three seats in the East constituency. However, a stronger than expected performance from Fine Gael in the election saw both women being elected. McGuinness has been appointed to serve on several European Parliament committees, including the

Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development The Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) is a committee of the European Parliament. Responsibilities of the Committee AGRI is the European Parliament committee responsible for: #The operation and development of the Common Agricul ...

and the delegation for relations with Australia and New Zealand] McGuinness is a substitute member of the European Parliament Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, the

Committee on Petitions The Committee on Petitions (PETI) is a permanent committee of the European Parliament to offer a petition process including a web portal to create and admit petitions. Its current chair, elected on 10 July 2019, is Dolors Montserrat, member of the ...

and the delegation for relations with China. She was a Fine Gael candidate for the

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constituency at the 2007 general election, but was not elected. She was re-elected on the first count at the 2009 European election, topping the poll with 25.7% of the first preference votes. In April 2011, McGuinness announced that she wished to run for

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and would seek the Fine Gael party nomination for the 2011 presidential election. In July 2011, she was defeated for the nomination by

Gay Mitchell Gabriel Alexander Mitchell (born 30 December 1951) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Minister of State for European Affairs from 1994 to 1997 and Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1992 to 1993. He served as a Member of the European ...

. At the 2014 European election, she was re-elected to the European Parliament for the new Midlands–North-West constituency. In July 2014, McGuinness was elected

Vice-President of the European Parliament There are fourteen vice-presidents of the European Parliament who sit in for the president in presiding over the plenary of the European Parliament. Role Vice-presidents are members of the Bureau and chair the plenary when the president is not ...

; she secured an absolute majority to go through in the first round of voting by secret ballot. Under the leadership of President

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, she oversees the parliament's information policy, press and citizens relations. In addition, she serves as chairwoman of the Working Group on Information and Communication Policy and as co-chair of the Inter-Institutional Group on Communication. In addition to her committee assignments and duties as vice-president, McGuinness is a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals and the European Parliament Intergroup on Children's Rights. Alongside Karin Kadenbach, she also co-chairs the MEP Heart Group, a group of parliamentarians who have an interest in promoting measures that will help reduce the burden of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). In November 2016, One Voice For Languages welcomed McGuinness as their patron. Also in November 2016, McGuinness officially announced her candidacy for the office of

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. Instead, Italian MEP and former European Commissioner Antonio Tajani was elected as the EPP group's nominee to replace incumbent president

; McGuinness received the second highest number of votes. Ahead of the 2019 European elections, she announced to run again for the post and was re-elected, exceeding the quota on the first count. Following the 2019 elections, McGuiness was part of a cross-party working group in charge of drafting the European Parliament's four-year work program on digitization.

European Commissioner nomination

McGuinness was one of two people, along with

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, who the

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nominated on 4 September 2020 for one position on the

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to replace

Phil Hogan Phil Hogan (born 4 July 1960) is an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as European Commissioner for Trade between 2019 and 2020, and previously European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development between 2014 and 2019. He previously ...

. On 8 September 2020, McGuinness was proposed by

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; Albrecht, born 8 October 1958) is a German politician who has been serving as the president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding suc ...

as the new Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union.

Other activities

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, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2020)

Political positions

In 2019, McGuinness proposed a plan that would privilege religious groups in consultations with the European Parliament. The proposal was shelved after a group of MEPs complained that it would create "a highly undesirable and untransparent privileged lobby channel for religious organisations".

Personal life

McGuinness is married to Tom Duff, a sheep farmer. The couple have four children.Maïa de La Baume (September 8, 2020)
5 things to know about Mairead McGuinness, the EU’s future finance chief
''

Politico Europe ''Politico Europe'' (stylized as ''POLITICO Europe'') is the European edition of the German-owned news organization ''Politico'' reporting on political affairs of the European Union. Its headquarters are located in Brussels with additional offices ...

''.

References

External links

*
Mairead McGuinness' page on the VoteWatch website
* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:McGuinness, Mairead 1959 births Alumni of University College Dublin Articles containing video clips 21st-century women MEPs for the Republic of Ireland Fine Gael MEPs Irish Independent people Irish women journalists Living people MEPs for the Republic of Ireland 2004–2009 MEPs for the Republic of Ireland 2009–2014 MEPs for the Republic of Ireland 2014–2019 MEPs for the Republic of Ireland 2019–2024 Politicians from County Louth RTÉ television presenters The Late Late Show (Irish talk show) Irish European Commissioners European Commissioners 2019–2024