Seán Sherlock (born 6 December 1972) is an Irish former Labour Party politician who served as 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 Cork East constituency from 2007 to 2024. He served as a

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

from 2011 to 2016.

Early life

Sherlock was born in

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

in 1972, but is a native of Mallow,

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

. He is the son of Joe Sherlock, who at the time was an

Official Sinn Féin The Workers' Party () is an Irish republican, Marxist–Leninist communist party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The party formerly asserted a claim of direct descent from the History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn F� ...

member of

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

. He was educated locally at St. Patrick's Boys' National School and the Patrician Academy, before later attending Cork College of Commerce. Sherlock subsequently studied at

University College Galway The University of Galway () is a public university, public research university located in the city of Galway, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The university was founded in 1845 as "Queen's College, Galway". It was known as "University College, Ga ...

, where he completed a degree in Economics and Politics.

Political career

Sherlock first became directly involved in politics when he served a six-month internship with MEP

Proinsias De Rossa Proinsias De Rossa (born 15 May 1940) is an Irish former Labour Party politician who served as Minister for Social Welfare from 1994 to 1997, leader of Democratic Left from 1992 to 1999 and leader of the Workers' Party from 1988 to 1992. He ...

, in his office at the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

. Following the completion of his internship he was offered a full-time job working as an assistant to de Rossa. In 2002, Sherlock served as election manager for his father in his attempt to win back a seat in the Cork East constituency at the general election as a Labour Party candidate. The campaign was successful; Joe Sherlock returned to

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( ; , ) is the lower house and principal chamber of the Oireachtas, which also includes the president of Ireland and a senate called Seanad Éireann.Article 15.1.2° of the Constitution of Ireland reads: "The Oireachtas shall co ...

after a ten-year absence. The abolition of the

dual mandate A dual mandate occurs when an official serves in or holds multiple public positions simultaneously. This practice is sometimes known as double jobbing in Britain, double-dipping in the United States, and ''cumul des mandats'' in France. Thus, if ...

in 2003 meant that Joe Sherlock had to vacate his seats on Mallow Town Council and Cork County Council. Seán was

co-opt Co-option, also known as co-optation and sometimes spelt cooption or cooptation, is a term with three common meanings. It may refer to: 1) The process of adding members to an elite group at the discretion of members of the body, usually to manag ...

ed onto both councils that year. The following year he won both seats in his own right when he was successful at the

local elections Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

. He was then elected Mayor of Mallow. When Joe Sherlock announced that he would not be contesting the 2007 general election, Seán was selected to succeed him. He contested Cork East for the Labour Party and was elected. A

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 ...

-led government returned to office for the third successive election. Seán Sherlock was appointed Labour Party spokesperson on Agriculture and Food.

Minister of State

Sherlock retained his Dáil seat at the 2011 general election, topping the poll in Cork East. He was appointed by the new Fine Gael–Labour coalition government as Minister of State at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and at the Department of Education and Skills with special responsibility for Research and Innovation. In January 2012, Sherlock proposed legislation to give copyright holders the right to seek an injunction against copyright violators. A group called "Stop SOPA Ireland" petitioned against the legislation, comparisons being made between these reforms and the

Stop Online Piracy Act The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was a proposed United States congressional bill to expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement to combat online copyright infringement and online trafficking in counterfeit goods. Introduced on October 26, 20 ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Sherlock said such comparisons were "not based on fact". According to the Irish government the legislation was intended to close a loophole after a High Court case in 2010, in which

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

sued UPC, an

internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides a myriad of services related to accessing, using, managing, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, no ...

, over illegal downloads. A

denial-of-service attack In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyberattack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services of a host co ...

was performed against government websites in protest over the changes. On 29 February 2012, Sherlock signed the legislation, citing Ireland's "obligations under EU law". The legislation subsequently resulted in the blocking of

The Pirate Bay The Pirate Bay, commonly abbreviated as TPB, is a free searchable online index of Film, movies, music, video games, Pornographic film, pornography and software. Founded in 2003 by Swedish think tank , The Pirate Bay facilitates the connection ...

in Ireland. On 15 July 2014, he was appointed as

Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade The Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is a junior ministerial post in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Government of Ireland who may perform functions delegated by the Minister for Foreign Affairs ...

with special responsibility for Overseas Development Aid, Trade Promotion and North–South Cooperation.

Return to opposition

Following the 2016 general election, Sherlock was one of seven remaining Labour TDs. He opposed returning to coalition with

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 ...

during the

government formation Government formation is the process in a parliamentary system of selecting a prime minister and cabinet members. If no party controls a majority of seats, it can also involve deciding which parties will be part of a coalition government. It us ...

talks that year. He continued to serve as a junior minister until the new government was formed on 6 May 2016. He was party spokesperson on Children and Youth Affairs and the Environment in the

32nd Dáil The 32nd Dáil was elected at the 2016 Irish general election, 2016 general election on 26 February and first met at 10.30 a.m. on 10 March 2016. The members of Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas (legislature) of ...

. Sherlock was re-elected at the 2020 general election. When

Brendan Howlin Brendan Howlin (born 9 May 1956) is an Irish former Labour Party (Ireland), Labour Party politician who served as Leader of the Labour Party (Ireland), Leader of the Labour Party from 2016 to 2020, Minister for Public Expenditure, National Devel ...

stood down as party leader in 2020, Sherlock ruled out contesting the Labour Party leadership election. He nominated Alan Kelly, who would defeat

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (; born 22 July 1976) is an Irish Labour Party politician who has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Ireland for the Dublin constituency since July 2024. He previously served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for ...

. In July 2020, Sherlock was appointed Labour Party spokesperson on Social Protection, Rural and Community Affairs and the Islands, including Agriculture and the Marine. Following the redrawing of his constituency, Sherlock announced in October 2023 that he would not contest the

2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...

References

External links