Cynthia Ní Mhurchú (; born 1966) is an Irish

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil ( ; ; meaning "Soldiers of Destiny" or "Warriors of Fál"), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party (), is a centre to centre-right political party in Ireland. Founded as a republican party in 1926 by Éamon de ...

politician,

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

and former radio host with (RTÉ) who has served as a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

for the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

constituency since July 2024. She presented

Eurovision Song Contest 1994 The Eurovision Song Contest 1994 was the 39th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 30 April 1994 at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (RTÉ), and presented ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

along with

Gerry Ryan Gerard Ryan (4 June 1956 – 30 April 2010) was an Irish people, Irish presenter of radio and television employed by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). He presented ''The Gerry Ryan Show'' on radio station RTÉ 2fm each weekday morning from 1 ...

Early life

Cynthia Murphy was born in

Carlow Carlow ( ; ) is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, from Dublin. At the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had a population of 27,351, the List of urban areas in the Republic of Ireland, ...

. Her parents were Brendan Murphy and Columba Murphy (née Brophy). Her mother was involved in local

Fine Gael Fine Gael ( ; ; ) is a centre-right, liberal-conservative, 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 Éireann. The party had a member ...

politics in Carlow. She adopted the Irish language version of her surname, ''Ní Mhurchú'', at the age of fifteen. She attended Holy Family Askea Girls School, St Leo's College and

Carysfort College Our Lady of Mercy College, Carysfort (commonly known as Carysfort College) was a ''College of Education'' in Dublin, Ireland from its foundation in 1877 until its closure in 1988. Educating primary school teachers, and located in a parkland cam ...

, where she trained as a primary school teacher.

Career

Ní Mhurchú initially worked as a teacher in an

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 ...

school in

and then spent ten years working as a journalist and

presenter Presenter may refer to: People * News presenter, person who presents news during a news program * Sports commentator, an announcer who presents analysis of a sporting event * Radio personality, presenter or announcer on a radio show * Television ...

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

, and as a freelancer. During the 1990s, she presented RTÉ's

Lotto Lotto may refer to: * Lotto, original, 15th century name of the Italian lottery * Lotto America, one of many U.S. lottery games called Lotto * Lotto (Milan Metro), a railway station in Milan, Italy * Lotto carpet, a carpet having a lacy arabesq ...

draw and the Irish language current affairs broadcast, Cúrsaí. She co-hosted the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

with

in 1994. She has also been a web columnist for several years and has written extensively on education, training and careers. She became a barrister after leaving RTÉ.

Political career

Ní Mhurchú joined

as she felt it supported the Irish language. In 1992, Ní Mhurchú was approached by the party to run in Dublin South-East in the

1992 Irish general election The 1992 Irish general election to the 27th Dáil was held on Wednesday, 25 November, almost three weeks after the Dissolution of Parliament, dissolution of the 26th Dáil on 5 November by President of Ireland, President Mary Robinson, on the r ...

but declined the offer as she wanted to study for the bar. She was selected by Fianna Fáil to contest the

constituency at the

2024 European Parliament election The 2024 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 6 and 9 June 2024. It was the tenth Elections to the European Parliament, parliamentary election since the 1979 European Parliament election, first direct electio ...

. Ní Mhurchú received 55,209 (8.0%) first preference votes and was elected on the 20th count. Ní Mhurchú has described her political views as "centrist, slightly left of centre."

Personal life

Ní Mhurchú is married to John Kavanagh and has two children. She is a fluent Irish speaker.

References

External links