Bairbre de Brún (born 10 January 1954) is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

politician and former

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

(MEP) for

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

.Bairbre de Brún
EU Parliament website

Political work

Born in Terenure,

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

on 10 January 1954, de Brún began her political career as a member of the ''National Committee Against the H-Blocks & Armagh Gaol'' in the late 1970s and early 1980s, focusing heavily on the treatment of women in Armagh Gaol. De Brún became an early member of

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 Gr ...

's Ard Chomhairle ( en, High Council) and in 1998 became an MLA in the

Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameral , house1 = , leader1_type = S ...

, representing

West Belfast Belfast West can refer to: *The western part of Belfast. *Belfast West (Assembly constituency) * Belfast West (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency) *Belfast West (UK Parliament constituency) Belfast West is a parliamentary constituency ( ...

. She was

Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety The Department of Health (DoH, ga, An Roinn Sláinte (IPA: �anˠˈɾˠiːn̪ʲˈsˠlaːnʲtʲə, Ulster-Scots: ''Männystrie o Poustie'') is a devolved Northern Irish government department in the Northern Ireland Executive. The minister with ...

. By profession, de Brún was a teacher and taught in the Irish-medium education sector in

west Belfast Belfast West can refer to: *The western part of Belfast. *Belfast West (Assembly constituency) * Belfast West (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency) *Belfast West (UK Parliament constituency) Belfast West is a parliamentary constituency ( ...

. She was also a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

teacher and is noted for her devotion to the

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

. She has lived in the

Andersonstown Andersonstown is a suburb of west Belfast, Northern Ireland, at the foot of the Black Mountain and Divis Mountain. It contains a mixture of public and private housing and is largely a working-class area with a strong Irish nationalist and Irish ...

area of

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

since the early 1980s. She is a fluent Irish speaker and an expert in

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

and equality issues. De Brún is also a member of the Sinn Féin negotiating team and travelled internationally on numerous occasions to promote the

Irish peace process The Northern Ireland peace process includes the events leading up to the 1994 Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) ceasefire, the end of most of the violence of the Troubles, the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, and subsequent political develop ...

. She was a member of the Environment and Petitions Committee in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...

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

in the European Parliament. She sat with the

European United Left - Nordic Green Left European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

. She topped the poll in the Northern Ireland constituency of the European Parliament in the 2009 European elections, a first for a

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

party. She has also been a strong supporter of the Irish language and its use globally, and was one of the only MEPs to use Irish as her primary language, rarely making speeches within the parliament in English. De Brún was a member of the Regional Policy Committee in the European Parliament and a substitute member of the Environment Committee. Within the EU parliament she focused on

environmental issue Environmental issues are effects of human activity on the biophysical environment, most often of which are harmful effects that cause environmental degradation. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment o ...

s. 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

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 Martina Anderson (born 16 April 1962) is an Irish former politician from Northern Ireland who served as Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Foyle from 2020 to 2021, and previously from 2007 to 2012. A member of Sinn Féin, she served ...

, an MLA for Foyle.

References

External links

Official Sinn Féin biography

European Parliament profileMaiden Speech : European Parliament – 21 July 2004
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Brun, Bairbre 1954 births Living people Northern Ireland MLAs 1998–2003 Northern Ireland MLAs 2003–2007 Ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive (since 1999) Sinn Féin MLAs Politicians from Dublin (city) Women in The Troubles (Northern Ireland) 21st-century women MEPs for Northern Ireland Female members of the Northern Ireland Assembly Sinn Féin MEPs MEPs for Northern Ireland 2004–2009 MEPs for Northern Ireland 2009–2014 Women ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive 20th-century women politicians from Northern Ireland 21st-century women politicians from Northern Ireland