Bairbre de Brún (born 10 January 1954) is a former Irish Sinn Féin politician who was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Northern Ireland from 2004 to 2012.
Political work
Born in Dublin on 10 January 1954, De Brún became an early member of Sinn Féin's Ard Chomhairle () and in 1998 became an MLA in the Northern Ireland Assembly, representing West Belfast. She was Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety.
By profession, de Brún was a teacher and taught in the Irish-medium education sector in west Belfast.
She was a member of the Environment and Petitions Committee in the European Parliament and a substitute member of the Regional Development Committee. Following the 2004 Euro elections she was one of two Sinn Féin MEPs and the first Sinn Féin politician to represent Northern Ireland in the European Parliament. She sat with the European United Left - Nordic Green Left. She was part of an EU delegation that attended the 2011 Durban Climate Change Conference. She was critical of the final report of the conference saying "We need to recognise that even the best possible outcome from Durban still only takes us half way down the road we need to travel".
She resigned from the European Parliament in May 2012 for "personal reasons" although it was reported that she intended on remaining active within the party. She was succeeded by Martina Anderson, an MLA for Foyle.
References
External links
- Sinn Féin biography
- European Parliament profile
- Maiden Speech : European Parliament – 21 July 2004