Réada Cronin (born 1963/1964) 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 who has been a

Teachta Dála A Teachta Dála ( ; ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish language, Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas, the parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The official Engli ...

(TD) for the Kildare North constituency since the 2020 general election.

Political career

Cronin was a member of

Kildare County Council Kildare County Council () is the Local government in the Republic of Ireland, local authority of County Kildare, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for ...

lor for the

Maynooth Maynooth (; ) is a university town in north County Kildare, Ireland. It is home to Maynooth University (part of the National University of Ireland and also known as the National University of Ireland, Maynooth) and St Patrick's College, Maynoo ...

local electoral area from

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

to 2019, until she lost her seat following the 2019 local elections, going out on the first count. She had previously contested the 2016 general election, gaining 3,000 first preferences but failed to get elected. Cronin was elected as a Sinn Féin TD for the Kildare North constituency following the 2020 general election.

Controversies

Social media conduct

Immediately following her election as a TD in 2020, a number of controversies arose from Cronin's past. It emerged that in 2019, Cronin tweeted that "sinister"

Mossad The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (), popularly known as Mossad ( , ), is the national intelligence agency of the Israel, State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with M ...

interference in the

2019 United Kingdom general election The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 12 December 2019, with 47,074,800 registered voters entitled to vote to elect 650 Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Un ...

was responsible for the defeat of

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...

. Cronin added that Corbyn was a "principled man" victimized by "lies, deceit, fake news, and the sinister activities of the Mossad Secret Service", and that the alleged Mossad actions were "blatant as f***." After being criticised by the Israeli embassy in Ireland for a "history of paranoid, hate-driven conspiracy theories," Cronin backtracked, calling her comments "throwaway remarks." Sinn Féin issued a statement stating that Cronin's remarks "do not represent the views of Sinn Féin". Older tweets surfaced in the following days where she claimed Israel had "taken Nazism to a new level", linked Hitler to the

Rothschild family The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Jewish noble banking family originally from Frankfurt. The family's documented history starts in 16th-century Frankfurt; its name is derived from the family house, Rothschild, ...

, compared a picture of

monkeys Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...

working on computers to the Israeli Embassy and suggested Irish judges could be paedophiles and promoted conspiracy theories about the harmful effects of

water fluoridation Water fluoridation is the controlled addition of fluoride to Public water supply, public water supplies to reduce tooth decay. Fluoridated water maintains fluoride levels effective for cavity prevention, achieved naturally or through supplem ...

. Her comments were condemned by

Taoiseach The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Leo Varadkar Leo Eric Varadkar ( ; born 18 January 1979) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 2017 to 2020 and from 2022 to 2024, as Tánaiste from 2020 to 2022, and as leader of Fine Gael from 2017 to 2024. A Teachta Dála, ...

and by Maurice Cohen, chair of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland who characterised them as "inaccurate,

anti-Semitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

and racist”.

Breaking planning permission laws

Separate to her conduct on social media, it was also after her 2020 election that it came to light that Cronin and her husband Donal built a €1,000,000 home in Kildare in 2002 knowing that they did not have full planning permission to do so. When Cronin and her partner were subsequently caught by Kildare County Council, they lobbied then Minister for Finance

Charlie McCreevy Charles McCreevy (born 30 September 1949) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services from 2004 to 2010, Minister for Finance from 1997 to 2004, Minister for Tourism and Trad ...

to personally intervene, which he did do. Cronin issued a statement in which she declared "In relation to my former home, there was an issue in respect of planning and this matter was settled in court, with the consent of Kildare County Council. This dates back almost two decades and is a matter of public record. As a public representative, I will always answer for matters relevant to my role, but matters relating to my family and my personal life are not relevant to my role as a TD."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cronin, Reada Living people 1960s births Members of Kildare County Council Members of the 33rd Dáil People from Dublin (city) Sinn Féin TDs (post-1923) 21st-century women Teachtaí Dála Sinn Féin local councillors in the Republic of Ireland Members of the 34th Dáil