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Michelle Gildernew
Official portrait, 2014
Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development
In office 8 May 2007 – 4 May 2011
First Minister	Ian Paisley Peter Robinson
Preceded by	Bríd Rodgers
Succeeded by	Michelle O'Neill
Member of Parliament for Fermanagh and South Tyrone
In office 8 June 2017 – 30 May 2024
Preceded by	Tom Elliot
Succeeded by	Pat Cullen
In office 7 June 2001 – 30 March 2015
Preceded by	Ken Maginnis
Succeeded by	Tom Elliott
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Fermanagh and South Tyrone
In office 5 May 2016 – 9 June 2017
Preceded by	Bronwyn McGahan
Succeeded by	Colm Gildernew
In office 25 June 1998 – 1 July 2012
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Bronwyn McGahan
Personal details
Born	(1970-03-28) 28 March 1970 (age 54) Dungannon, Northern Ireland
Political party	Sinn Féin
Spouse	Jimmy Taggart
Children	3
Relatives	Colm Gildernew (brother)
Alma mater	University of Ulster

Michelle Angela Gildernew (born 28 March 1970) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician from County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Fermanagh and South Tyrone from 2017 to 2024, after previously holding the seat from 2001 to 2015.

Gildernew is a former Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Northern Ireland Executive. She was the MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone from 2001 to 2015, and was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for the Assembly constituency of Fermanagh and South Tyrone from June 1998 to July 2012. She was re-elected to the Assembly in 2016 and 2017. In 2017 she reclaimed her Westminster seat from Tom Elliott of the Ulster Unionist Party. In 2019, she was re-elected with the smallest majority of any constituency in the UK, a margin of just 57 votes.

Gildernew is Sinn Féin's health spokesperson, and has been a member of the party's Ard Chomhairle (National Executive). In the 2007–2011 Assembly, she served as Vice Chair of the Committee of Social Development and was a member of the Committee of the centre, as well as other statutory and ad-hoc committees.

Education and background

Born in Dungannon, Gildernew attended St Catherine's College Armagh and later the University of Ulster, Coleraine. After graduating from university, she travelled extensively in Europe, the United States and Australia, where she worked for a year.

Gildernew is one of ten siblings from an Irish republican family based at the "Gildernew farm complex" (as described on Ordnance Survey maps) in County Tyrone. During the 1960s, the family were leading figures in the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association and took part in a 1968 protest in Caledon, County Tyrone over housing discrimination.

Political career

On returning to Northern Ireland in 1996, Gildernew was the second-placed but unsuccessful candidate for Sinn Féin in the Northern Ireland Forum elections for Fermanagh and South Tyrone. The following year, she was appointed Sinn Féin representative to London and was part of the first Sinn Féin delegation to visit Downing Street. In the 1998 Assembly elections, she was elected MLA for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, retaining the seat in the 2003 and 2007 elections. Gildernew has campaigned on women's and mothers' rights.

Election to Westminster

In the 2001 UK general election, Gildernew was elected to Parliament as Member for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, defeating the Ulster Unionist candidate James Cooper by 53 votes. She was the first female candidate elected from her party to the House of Commons in over 80 years since Constance Markievicz in 1918. Like all Sinn Féin MPs, she followed a policy of abstentionism and never took her seat in Westminster in the five times she was elected at the polls.

In the 2005 election, she was re-elected and increased her majority to 4,582 votes. In the 2010 election, the Democratic Unionists (DUP), Ulster Conservatives and Unionists and Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) all chose not to field candidates and she held her seat by four votes against Independent Unionist Rodney Connor.

In October 2014, Sinn Féin announced that Gildernew would be the party's candidate in the 2015 Westminster election. She lost the seat by 530 votes to Ulster Unionist Party candidate Tom Elliott. According to the Times Guide to the House of Commons, Gildernew was popular across the sectarian divide in one of Northern Ireland's most polarised constituencies.

She won her seat back in 2017, beating Elliott by 875 votes. Elliott closed the gap to a mere 57 votes in 2019, making Fermanagh and South Tyrone the most marginal seat in the country.

In 2019. Gildernew supported John O'Dowd's unsuccessful bid to become Vice President of Sinn Féin at the party's ard fheis.

Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development

During her time as Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Gildernew dealt with problems such as an outbreak of bluetongue disease. She also increased cross-border co-operation with the Republic of Ireland on farming issues.

2011 Irish presidential election

In September 2011, the Belfast Telegraph reported that Sinn Féin was considering Gildernew as their candidate for that year's Irish presidential election. Sinn Féin would ultimately nominate Martin McGuinness for president.

Support for Seán Quinn

In a July 2012 interview for The Impartial Reporter, Gildernew defended embattled businessman Seán Quinn, saying that "e has been treated disgracefully by the Irish Government. Had they not tried to strip him of all his assets, including his home, deny him the ability to function in business, and routinely try to humiliate him I believe he would have paid back every penny he owed to the Irish taxpayer". Quinn, the former head of the privately owned Quinn Group (now Mannok), was declared bankrupt in January 2012. (With loans worth around €1.2 billion from the Anglo-Irish Bank, the Quinn group was exposed by its collapse and, on 30 March 2010, the High Court appointed joint provisional administrators to Quinn Insurance.)

Sinn Féin distanced themselves from Gildernew's comments with Mary Lou McDonald stating that Seán Quinn had engaged in illegal business practices.

2024 European Parliament election and retirement from Westminster

In January 2024, Gildernew was announced as one two Sinn Féin candidates for the Midlands–North-West constituency at the 2024 European Parliament election in Ireland.

In May 2024, she announced she would stand down as an MP at the 2024 general election, in order to focus on her campaign for the European elections. In the election, Gildernew received 45,807 (6.7%) first preferences votes but was not elected.

Personal life

Gildernew is married to Jimmy Taggart; they have two sons, and one daughter.

References

1. "No. 8218". The Belfast Gazette. 23 December 2019. p. 1002.
2. Brunskill, Ian (19 March 2020). The Times guide to the House of Commons 2019 : the definitive record of Britain's historic 2019 General Election. HarperCollins Publishers Limited. p. 199. ISBN 978-0-00-839258-1. OCLC 1129682574.
3. Whyte, Nicholas. "Elections: Northern Ireland ELECTIONS: Fermanagh and South Tyrone 1998". ARK. Northern Ireland Social and Political Archive. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
4. ^ "Minister Michelle Gildernew MP, MLA". Fermanagh South Tyrone Sinn Féin. Archived from the original on 16 May 2011. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
5. ^ "Profile of Minister Michelle Gildernew". Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Northern Ireland. 28 September 2007. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007.
6. "Elections: Northern Ireland ELECTIONS: Candidates in Fermanagh and South Tyrone 1996". ARK. Northern Ireland Social & Political Archive. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
7. "Candidate: Michelle Gildernew". UTV. Archived from the original on 9 January 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
8. "Election 2010 | Fermanagh and South Tyrone". Election 2010. BBC News. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
9. "Michelle Gildernew MP selected as Fermanagh South Tyrone Westminster candidate". Fermanagh South Tyrone Sinn Féin. 20 October 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
10. Dale, Iain (2010). The Times Guide to the House of Commons. London: Times Books. ISBN 9780007351589.
11. McCurry, Cate (10 June 2017). "Michelle Gildernew says anti-Brexit vote clinched it". Belfast Telegraph. Media Huis. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
12. "Gildernew holds on to seat by 57 votes". Impartial Reporter. Newsquest Media Group. 13 December 2019. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
13. "Sinn Féin leadership: Gildernew backs O'Dowd's bid". BBC News. 12 September 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
14. "Consultations". Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. Archived from the original on 21 June 2010. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
15. Sheahan, Fionnan (9 November 2016). "Sinn Fein tipped to run Gildernew for Irish president". Belfast Telegraph. Media Huis. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
16. Edwards, Rodney (26 July 2012). "Sean Quinn: We are 'devastated' over son's jailing". Impartial Reporter. Newsquest Media Group. Archived from the original on 4 August 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
17. Keena, Colm (11 January 2012). "Quinn bankruptcy case set for Dublin court on Monday". Irish Times. Archived from the original on 11 January 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
18. Sheehan, Maeve (4 April 2010). "Industry captain's ill-fated voyage on the sinking ship". Independent.ie. Media Huis. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
19. "Sinn Féin 'distances itself' from Sean Quinn". BBC News. 1 August 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
20. "Sinn Fein's Michelle Gildernew to seek election to European Parliament". Belfast Telegraph. 22 January 2024. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
21. "The MPs who have announced they are standing down at the next general election". Sky News. 24 May 2024. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
22. "European Elections: Midlands North-West". RTÉ News. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
23. "Interview : Michelle Gildernew, the first minister in Ireland to give birth while in office". An Phoblacht. 27 November 2008.

• 1970 births
• Living people
• 20th-century women politicians from Northern Ireland
• 21st-century women politicians from Northern Ireland
• Alumni of Ulster University
• Female members of the Northern Ireland Assembly
• Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Northern Irish constituencies
• Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Fermanagh and South Tyrone (since 1950)
• Ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive (since 1999)
• Northern Ireland MLAs 1998–2003
• Northern Ireland MLAs 2003–2007
• Northern Ireland MLAs 2007–2011
• Northern Ireland MLAs 2011–2016
• Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–2017
• Northern Ireland MLAs 2017–2022
• People from Dungannon
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• Women ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive