Caitríona Ruane (born 1962) is a

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

politician who served as the Principal Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly from 2016 to 2017, and was a

Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs; ; ) are representatives elected by the voters to the Northern Ireland Assembly. About The Northern Ireland Assembly has 90 elected members – five from each of 18 constituencies, the boundaries o ...

(MLA) for South Down from 2003 to 2017. In the first

Northern Ireland Executive The Northern Ireland Executive (Irish language, Irish: ''Feidhmeannas Thuaisceart Éireann'', Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster Scots: ''Norlin Airlan Executive'') is the devolution, devolved government of Northern Ireland, an administrative branc ...

under First Minister

Ian Paisley Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, (6 April 1926 – 12 September 2014) was a loyalist politician and Protestant religious leader from Northern Ireland who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 1971 to 2008 and ...

and deputy First Minister

Martin McGuinness James Martin Pacelli McGuinness (; 23 May 1950 – 21 March 2017) was an Irish republican politician and statesman for Sinn Féin and a leader within the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) during The Troubles. He was the deputy First Minist ...

she was appointed Minister of Education. She faced opposition over the scrapping of the Transfer Examination ( 11-plus) and her subsequent plans for a replacement. She was replaced by

John O'Dowd John Fitzgerald O'Dowd (born 10 May 1967) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician. He has been a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Upper Bann since 2003, and has served as Minister for Finance since February 2025. He served as Minister ...

after the 2011 election.

Background

Ruane is a former professional

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player who represented Ireland in the

Fed Cup The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was cha ...

. She now lives in Carlingford, County Louth and is married with two children. In the past Ruane has acted as director of the

Féile an Phobail Féile an Phobail (''The Community's Festival''), also known as the West Belfast Festival is a community arts organisation known for its ''August Féile'' (Festival). The organisation is prominent for its promotion of Irish and international cu ...

and chairperson of the St Patrick's Carnival Committee in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

"Bring Them Home" campaign

Ruane was a prominent member of the ''Bring Them Home'' campaign for the Colombia Three, which sought the safe return of three Irishmen later convicted in their absence in

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

of training

FARC The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army (, FARC–EP or FARC) was a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian conflict starting in 1964. The FARC-EP was officially founded in 1966 from peasan ...

insurgents.

Abolition of the 11-plus

Ruane has faced opposition for her support for abolition of the 11-plus examination, originally planned by her predecessor

. She has faced opposition from the

Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist, Ulster loyalism, loyalist, British nationalist and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who ...

and

Social Democratic and Labour Party The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP; ) is a social democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland Assembly ( MLAs) and two members of Parliament (M ...

as well as from 30 grammar schools in Northern Ireland, causing them to form the AQE (Association for Quality Education), which offered a replacement for the transfer examination. She was alleged to have delayed the publication of a report which showed that public opinion favoured academic selection. In March 2011, Ruane caused controversy by claiming that all pupils should be given the opportunity to study the

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

, that

education in Northern Ireland The education system in Northern Ireland differs from elsewhere in the United Kingdom (although it is relatively similar to Wales), but is similar to the Republic of Ireland in sharing in the development of the ''National school (Ireland), nat ...

should be made more similar to that in the Republic of Ireland, and that "the debate on academic selection is now over". Director of the Governing Bodies Association, which represents Northern Irish grammar schools, John Hart, said, "I think the minister is fooling only herself in trying to convince us that the debate surrounding academic selection is over. Some 26,000 parents last year did not think it was over. As we have said in the past, the minister washed her hands of responsibility for academic selection, so she would be better letting those with a more responsible approach get on with it, instead of petty badgering."

References

External links

Profile on Sinn Féin website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruane, Caitriona 1962 births Living people Irish female tennis players Irish socialists Ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive (since 1999) Sinn Féin MLAs Northern Ireland MLAs 2003–2007 Northern Ireland MLAs 2007–2011 Northern Ireland MLAs 2011–2016 Female members of the Northern Ireland Assembly Politicians from County Louth Sportspeople from County Louth Politicians from County Mayo Sportspeople from County Mayo Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–2017 Women ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive People from Swinford, County Mayo Irish sportsperson-politicians Sinn Féin parliamentary candidates 20th-century Irish sportswomen

Background

"Bring Them Home" campaign

Abolition of the 11-plus

See also

References

External links