Mickey Brady (born 7 October 1950) is an Irish republican politician who has been the

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 Newry and Armagh since 2015. He was previously 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. ...

of Northern Ireland for Newry and Armagh from 2007 to 2015.

Early life

Brady was born in the Ballybot area of

Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Armagh, Armagh and County Down, Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011. Newry ...

. He attended the Abbey Primary School in the town and later the Abbey Christian Brothers' Grammar School. After this, he went to university in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

. In 1981, Brady was employed by the Confederation of Community Groups in Newry, running a welfare rights advice centre, dealing with benefits and housing issues until 2007. His mother, Sarah "Sally" Brady (3 March 1909 – 4 May 2016), was the second oldest known living person in Northern Ireland.

Career

Brady says he was always interested in politics and was always an Irish republican so it was an obvious progression for him to be selected to contest the Newry and Armagh Assembly seat in 2007 for

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 G ...

. He first took his seat in the Northern Ireland Assembly on 8 March 2007 and retained the seat in 2011. He was selected to contest the 2015 general election by party members in Newry and won the seat. He does not take his seat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, in line with Sinn Féin's

abstentionist Abstentionism is standing for election to a deliberative assembly while refusing to take up any seats won or otherwise participate in the assembly's business. Abstentionism differs from an election boycott in that abstentionists participate in ...

policy. Locally, Brady is also a member of the Confederation of Community Groups and a member of the Board of Governors for schools in his constituency. On 4 May 2015, during his

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

election campaign, Brady was told by the

Police Service of Northern Ireland The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI; ga, Seirbhís Póilíneachta Thuaisceart Éireann; Ulster-Scots: ') is the police force that serves Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) after it was reform ...

(PSNI) of a death threat against him. During the early hours of the following morning, he was advised again of another death threat against him and a bomb threat on his family home in Newry. The PSNI searched the property and found no devices. On 8 June 2017, Brady was re-selected by

in the Newry & Armagh constituency to defend his Westminster seat at the snap 2017 United Kingdom general election. Mickey Brady with Phil Boswell MP for the SNP for Coatbridge

Mickey Brady with Phil Boswell MP for the SNP for Coatbridge

Brady successfully defended his seat again at the 2019 general election on 12 December 2019.

References

External links

Profile
agendani.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Brady, Mickey 1950 births Living people People from Newry Sinn Féin MLAs Northern Ireland MLAs 2007–2011 Northern Ireland MLAs 2011–2016 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Newry and Armagh (since 1983) Sinn Féin MPs (post-1921) UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present Sinn Féin councillors in Northern Ireland