Seán MacManus 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, and was the national chairperson of the party from 1984 to 1990.

Background

MacManus was born in 1950 near

Blacklion Blacklion (; originally ''An Leargaidh'') is a village in the north-west of County Cavan in Ireland. It is situated on the N16 national primary road, just across the border from Belcoo, a village in the south-west of County Fermanagh. H ...

, a village in the north-west of

County Cavan County Cavan ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Cavan and is based on the hi ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, and moved to London in the 1960s to find work. There he met and married Helen McGovern, a native of

Glenfarne Glenfarne or Glenfarn () is a village in north County Leitrim, Ireland. It is the site of the original 'Ballroom of Romance', which inspired a short story by William Trevor that was subsequently turned into a television film in a BBC/RTÉ co-pr ...

County Leitrim County Leitrim ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the village of Leitrim, County Leitr ...

. In 1976, he returned to Ireland and settled in the Maugheraboy area of

Sligo Sligo ( ; , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of 20,608 in 2022, it is the county's largest urban centre (constituting 2 ...

so that their family of two boys could be educated in Ireland. Still based in Maugheraboy, MacManus has been involved in

Irish Republican Irish republicanism () is the political movement for an Irish republic, void of any British rule. Throughout its centuries of existence, it has encompassed various tactics and identities, simultaneously elective and militant and has been both w ...

politics since the early 1970s and was secretary of the County Sligo Anti-H-Block Committee which campaigned in support of the 1980 and 1981 hunger strikes. He became a member of the Sinn Féin Ard Comhairle (National Executive) in 1982 and remained there for over twenty years. MacManus was elected as the first Sinn Féin National Chairperson, serving from 1984 until 1990. After the IRA ceasefire in 1994, MacManus was part of the first formal and publicly acknowledged Sinn Féin delegation to meet with the British government in over seventy years. He was also involved in the protracted negotiations leading to the

Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) or Belfast Agreement ( or ; or ) is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April (Good Friday) 1998 that ended most of the violence of the Troubles, an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland since the la ...

. First elected to Sligo Corporation (later called Sligo Borough Council) in 1994, he remained until the council's abolition in May 2014. He was elected to

Sligo County Council Sligo County Council () is the local authority of County Sligo, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for housing and community, roads and transportation, urban planning and de ...

in 1999 and was re-elected in 2004, 2009 and 2014. He was also a candidate for the Sligo–Leitrim constituency at several general elections. MacManus stepped down from elected politics in February 2017 and was replaced by his son, Chris MacManus. In 2000, MacManus became the mayor of Sligo Town, the first

mayor in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

since the beginning of

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 ...

in 1969. He was again elected mayor in 2003.

Republican family

MacManus has two sons. Chris MacManus, the youngest, was also an elected member of Sligo Borough Council and Sligo County Council and has been 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 ...

since March 2020. His eldest son,

Joseph MacManus Joseph Edward "Joe" MacManus (often incorrectly spelt Joe McManus) (Irish Seosamh Mac Mághnais; 23 May 1970 – 5 February 1992), was a volunteer in the Sligo Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. He was killed during a shoot-ou ...

, was an

Provisional IRA The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland ...

volunteer who was killed in a shoot-out against an off-duty UDR soldier in

Belleek, County Fermanagh Belleek (Flanagan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 182. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a large village and civil parish in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. While the greater part of the village lies within County Fermanagh, part ...

, in February 1992.

References

External links

List of Mayors of SligoSeán MacManus' electoral history (ElectionsIreland.org)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macmanus, Sean 1950 births Living people Mayors of places in the Republic of Ireland People from Sligo (town) Politicians from County Sligo Politicians from County Cavan Members of Sligo County Council Sinn Féin candidates in Dáil elections (post-1923)

Background

Republican family

References

Further reading

External links