Patricia Yvonne Cullen (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

McAleer; born 1965) is an Irish

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, trade unionist and nurse who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Fermanagh and South Tyrone since

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

. Cullen was the Chief Executive and General Secretary of the

Royal College of Nursing The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is a registered trade union and professional body in the United Kingdom for those in the profession of nursing. It was founded in 1916 as the College of Nursing, receiving its royal charter in 1928. Queen Eliz ...

from July 2021 to May 2024.

Early life

Cullen was born Patricia Yvonne McAleer in

Carrickmore Carrickmore () is a small town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated in the historic barony of Omagh East, the civil parish of Termonmaguirk and the Roman Catholic Parish of Termonmaguirc between Cookstown, Dungannon and O ...

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...

, the youngest of seven children born to farmer Paddy McAleer and his wife, Annie. The decision of the eldest sister, Birdie, to become a nurse inspired Pat to follow the same career. Her brother and four of her five sisters all became nurses. Pat's other sister had a learning disability, which prompted Pat to study mental health nursing.

Career

Cullen worked as a community nurse in west

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 ...

during

the Troubles The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...

. During a period as a nurse trainee at Holywell Hospital in Antrim when she was 18, Cullen wrote a letter of complaint to hospital management about their "token economy" policy, whereby psychiatric patients had important personal possessions confiscated as punishment for "difficult" behaviour. She succeeded in having the hospital soften the policy. She later became a registered psychotherapist. Cullen went on to hold roles at the Public Health Agency and the Health and Social Care Board, before joining the

(RCN) in 2016. In May 2019, she became director of the Northern Ireland Board of the RCN. She started acting as General Secretary and Chief Executive in April 2021, and was appointed as interim General Secretary and Chief Executive of the UK-wide RCN in July 2021. In late 2022, she led the National Health Service strikes in which English and Welsh nurses went on strike for the first time in the nursing union's 106-year history. In April 2023, her union announced a strike on May bank holiday weekend (30 April to 2 May) after RCN members rejected the pay offer. In 2023, Cullen was described by the ''

New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...

'' as ”one of the UKs most prominent Trade Union leaders”, being placed at No.15 in their list of the most powerful left-wing figures of the year, above many elected politicians. In May 2024, Cullen announced she was stepping down from her role at the RCN in order to stand as a candidate for Fermanagh and South Tyrone in the

2024 United Kingdom general election The 2024 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 4 July 2024 to elect all 650 members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. The opposition Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, won a lan ...

. On 4 July she was duly elected as

MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, succeeding fellow Sinn Féin member Michelle Gildernew and increasing the party's majority from 0.1% to 8.9% of the vote. Like all Sinn Féin UK MPs, she follows an

abstentionist Abstentionism is the political practice of 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 abst ...

policy and has not taken her seat in

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

Personal life

She is married to Enda Cullen, who is a

general practitioner A general practitioner (GP) is a doctor who is a Consultant (medicine), consultant in general practice. GPs have distinct expertise and experience in providing whole person medical care, whilst managing the complexity, uncertainty and risk ass ...

in Belfast.

References

External links

Sinn Féin candidate profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cullen, Pat 1965 births Living people 21st-century women politicians from Northern Ireland British women nurses British psychotherapists British trade union leaders Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Northern Irish constituencies General secretaries of the Royal College of Nursing Health professionals from County Tyrone Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Fermanagh and South Tyrone (since 1950) Nurses from Northern Ireland People from Carrickmore Politicians from County Tyrone Sinn Féin MPs (post-1921) Trade unionists from County Tyrone UK MPs 2024–present Women trade union leaders