Órfhlaith Begley (; born 19 December 1991) is an Irish

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gri ...

politician. She is the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for the West Tyrone constituency of the

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 mem ...

, having first won the seat in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

on 3 May 2018. Prior to her political career, Begley was a solicitor.

Early life and career

Begley was born on 19 December 1991 in

Carrickmore Carrickmore () is a village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated in the historic barony of Omagh East, the civil parish of Termonmaguirk and the Roman Catholic Parish of Termonmaguirc between Cookstown, Dungannon and Omagh. It ha ...

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional Counties of Ireland, counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an admini ...

, Northern Ireland. She is the daughter of former

Omagh District Council chairman Seán Begley. Begley grew up in Carrickmore, and played

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

at the local club. She studied Law and Politics at the

Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

. She then studied at the Institute of Professional and Legal Studies, graduating as a solicitor. Begley then worked as a solicitor in Portadown,

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and ha ...

with her brother.

Political career

Begley was selected as the Sinn Féin candidate for West Tyrone in the

2018 West Tyrone by-election A by-election was held in the UK Parliament constituency of West Tyrone on 3 May 2018, following the resignation of Barry McElduff, who had been the Member of Parliament (MP) since 2017. McElduff had become embroiled in a social media controvers ...

on 26 February. The by-election had been called following the resignation of the previous Sinn Féin MP

Barry McElduff Columba Barry McElduff (; born 16 August 1966) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the West Tyrone UK parliament constituency. He was also a Member of the Legislative Assembly in the Northern Ireland As ...

on 15 January. She was elected with a majority of 7,956. Begley was the first female MP to represent the constituency since it was created in 1997. She held the seat in the 2019 general election with a majority of 7,478. She does not sit in the House of Commons per the party's longstanding policy of abstentionism.

Personal life

Begley became engaged to Conor Carson in February 2021, and they were married in December 2022 in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Begley, Órfhlaith 1991 births Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Northern Irish constituencies Living people Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Tyrone constituencies (since 1922) People from County Tyrone Sinn Féin MPs (post-1921) UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present 21st-century women politicians from Northern Ireland