Toiréasa Ferris (born 24 March 1980) is a former Irish

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 ...

politician who has served as a

Kerry County Council Kerry County Council ( ga, Comhairle Contae Chiarraí) is the authority responsible for local government in County Kerry, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for housing and ...

lor for

Tralee Tralee ( ; ga, Trá Lí, ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the Lee River') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in Count ...

from 2003 to 2019.

Personal life

Ferris is a part-time tutor in law at Tralee Community College. She lives in

Ardfert Ardfert () is a village in County Kerry, Ireland. Historically a religious centre, the economy of the locality is driven by agriculture and its position as a dormitory town, being only from Tralee. The population of the village was 749 at the 2 ...

, County Kerry with her husband Patrick and their two children. In 2001, Ferris spent seven months working in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

with a local workers' rights group.

Political career

Ferris started her political activism with

's youth wing

Ógra Shinn Féin Ógra Shinn Féin (colloquially known as Republican Youth, , and formerly, officially known as Sinn Féin Republican Youth, ga, Sinn Féin Óige Phoblachtach, from 2012 to March 2018) is the youth wing of the Irish political party Sinn Féin. ...

, in her native

and at the

University of Limerick The University of Limerick (UL) ( ga, Ollscoil Luimnigh) is a public research university institution in Limerick, Ireland. Founded in 1972 as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it became a university in 1989 in accordance w ...

. Co-opted in 2003 to the

seat held by her father,

Martin Ferris Martin Ferris (born 28 March 1952) is a former Irish Sinn Féin politician and former Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 2002 to 2020. Early and personal life Ferris was born in Strand Stre ...

, she immediately became the first Sinn Féin

Cathaoirleach Cathaoirleach (; Irish for chairperson; plural: ) is the title of the chair (or presiding officer) of Seanad Éireann, the sixty-member upper house of the Oireachtas, the legislature of Ireland. The current Cathaoirleach, who has held the o ...

(chairperson) of the council. She was elected to the Council in 2004, and became the second female Mayor of the Council in 2005, serving until 2006. She remains a Sinn Féin member of both Kerry County Council and Tralee Town Council. On 18 October 2008, she was selected as a candidate in the European Parliament election in 2009 for the South constituency. She received 64,671 of the first preference votes, coming third on the first count, but was not elected. In an article in the weekly newspaper ''

An Phoblacht ''An Phoblacht'' (Irish pronunciation: ; en, "The Republic") is a formerly weekly, and currently monthly newspaper published by Sinn Féin in Ireland. From early 2018 onwards, ''An Phoblacht'' has moved to a magazine format while remaining an ...

'' she gave an analysis of the current direction of the party, saying that the party "means nothing" to the bulk of people in the Republic, and that there was a perception amongst voters that Sinn Féin was a northern-based party. In the 2014 Kerry County Council election, Ferris was elected on the first count and topped the poll in the Tralee

local electoral area A local electoral area (LEA; ga, Toghlimistéir Áitiúil) is an electoral area for elections to local authorities in Ireland. All elections use the single transferable vote. The Republic of Ireland is divided into 166 LEAs, with an average p ...

. She retained her seat in 2019. The following month she ruled herself out of standing in the next general election on medical advice, while remaining on the county council. She resigned from the council on health grounds in August 2019.

''The Late Late Show'' interview

Ferris appeared on RTÉ's '' The Late Late Show'' in February 2006; in an interview with

Pat Kenny Patrick Kenny (born 29 January 1948) is an Irish broadcaster, who currently hosts the daily radio show ''The Pat Kenny Show'' on Newstalk and the current affairs show ''Pat Kenny Tonight'' on Virgin Media One. Prior to this, Kenny had a 41-yea ...

, she said she could not condemn the killing of Garda

Jerry McCabe Jerry may refer to: Animals * Jerry (Grand National winner), racehorse, winner of the 1840 Grand National * Jerry (St Leger winner), racehorse, winner of 1824 St Leger Stakes Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Jerry'' (film), a 2006 Indian fil ...

in 1996. She stated that "It wouldn't be fair to condemn one individual action when over 3,000 were killed

The Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an " ...

'']. I don't feel I have the right, or that it would be fair to condemn one individual act." ''The Late Late Show'' interview also caused comment because her "knee-length" skirt hiked up when she crossed her legs. RTÉ was sharply criticised for having their cameras pan her legs and skirt in the middle of the interview and creating a "tabloid" atmosphere and cheapening her appearance.

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 � ...

councillors on Kerry County Council attempted to table a vote of no confidence. However, owing to the support of

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...

councillors, she survived by a wide margin.

References

External links

''The Kingdom'' article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferris, Toireasa 1980 births Living people Sinn Féin politicians Politicians from County Kerry Mayors of places in the Republic of Ireland Alumni of the University of Limerick Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Local councillors in County Kerry