Patrick McKee is a lawyer and former politician. He is a member of

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 ...

, and was formerly a member of Renua and was their candidate in the 2015 Carlow-Kilkenny Dáil by-election.

Background

McKee was born in June 1988. He attended secondary school at St Kieran's College until 2006, going on to graduate with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in Law and Business from

Waterford Institute of Technology The Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT; ) was an Institutes of technology in the Republic of Ireland, institute of technology, located in Waterford, Ireland. The institute had six constituent schools and offered programmes in business, engi ...

in 2010. In 2011 he received a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

degree from

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) () is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork (city), Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of three Queen's Universit ...

. McKee works as a

solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...

with Turner Solicitors, in

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 ...

. McKee publicly came out as a gay man in 2011 during an interview on local radio.

Political career

In 2006, McKee joined Ógra Fianna Fáil, the youth wing of

, and established the Thomas Francis Meagher Cumann during his time in WIT. During his time in

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

he worked closely with former Minister for Transport

Martin Cullen Martin Cullen (born 2 November 1954) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism from 2008 to 2010, Minister for Social and Family Affairs from 2007 to 2008, Minister for Transport from 2004 ...

TD. McKee held positions both locally and nationally in Ógra Fianna Fáil. He was elected

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

representative on Ógra Fianna Fáil's National Youth Committee in 2011. During 2010 McKee worked as an intern in

Seanad Éireann Seanad Éireann ( ; ; "Senate of Ireland") is the senate of the Oireachtas (the Irish legislature), which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann (defined as the house of representatives). It is commonly called the Seanad or ...

for Senator Mark Daly. In 2013 he declared his candidacy for Kilkenny County Council in the forthcoming elections and in May 2014 was elected in the

local electoral area A local electoral area (LEA; ) is an electoral area for elections to Local government in the Republic of Ireland, local authorities in Ireland. All elections in the Republic of Ireland, elections use the single transferable vote. Republic of Ir ...

of Kilkenny City for Fianna Fáil. He was elected chairman of the Joint Policing Committee and leas-cathaoirleach of the council. In March 2015 McKee left Fianna Fáil amid rumors of homophobic bullying and joined the newly formed Renua party. His departure prompted criticism from a number of high-profile Fianna Fáil colleagues, including Michael McGrath and Timmy Dooley. He later stated that before joining Renua, he had considered joining

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 ...

. McKee was the Renua candidate for the Carlow–Kilkenny constituency at both the 2015 by-election and the 2016 general election. He won 9.5% and 3.6% of the first-preference votes on each occasion. In December 2016, McKee left Renua Ireland and rejoined Fianna Fail. He returned to Fianna Fáil in 2017, which was met with criticism from some members of the party and prompted comment from

Micheál Martin Micheál Martin (; born 16 August 1960) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician serving as Taoiseach since January 2025, having previously held the position from 2020 to 2022. Martin served as Tánaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Min ...

and a number of board members of the party to resign. In February 2018, he garnered criticism over comments he made about Ruth Coppinger on Twitter for which later apologised. In November 2018, McKee announced that he would not be standing for re-election, instead deciding to focus on the development of his legal career.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mckee, Patrick Alumni of University College Cork Alumni of Waterford Institute of Technology Fianna Fáil local councillors Irish gay politicians LGBTQ conservatism Living people Members of Kilkenny County Council Politicians from County Kilkenny 1988 births Independent local councillors in the Republic of Ireland 21st-century Irish LGBTQ people Renua candidates in Dáil elections Renua local councillors People educated at St Kieran's College, Kilkenny