Catherine Anna Noone (born 24 June 1976) is a former
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 ...
Fine Gael
Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and 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 ...
politician.
She served as a
Senator on the
Industrial and Commercial Panel
The Industrial and Commercial Panel ( ga, An Rolla Tionscail Agus Tráchtála) is one of five vocational panels which together elect 43 of the 60 members of Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Oireachtas (the legislature of Ireland). The In ...
from April 2011 to March 2020.
Prior to her election to the Seanad she was a member of
Dublin City Council
Dublin City Council ( ga, Comhairle Cathrach Bhaile Átha Cliath) is the authority responsible for local government in the city of Dublin in Ireland. As a city council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. Until 2001, the council was ...
from 2009 to 2011 for the South East Inner City electoral area where she was elected on the last count over 200 votes short of a quota.
Originally from
County Mayo, she studied law in
NUI, Galway and is a practising solicitor.
She was the Fine Gael Seanad spokesperson on Arts and Culture.
Noone stood for the Dáil in the
2016 general election in the four seater
Dublin West constituency but was eliminated after the second count with 1,074 first preference votes. She was later nominated for the Seanad and was elected on the 26th count. After being elected to her second term in Seanad Éireann, she was appointed by the
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the o ...
as
Deputy leader of Seanad Éireann in July 2016.
In 2017, Noone was chair of the Oireachtas Committee on the
Eighth Amendment, which recommended that it be repealed. Noone was then one of the primary members of Fine Gael who campaigned for a yes vote in the subsequent referendum of 2018, which ultimately led to the repeal of the amendment in Ireland.
She was an unsuccessful candidate for the
Dublin Bay North constituency at the
2020 general election,
and lost her seat at the
2020 Seanad election, being eliminated on the 14th count.
Controversies
In 2015, Noone called for
Mixed Martial Arts
Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...
to be banned in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, calling it a "vile so-called sport", and announced she had sent a letter to the then Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport
Paschal Donohoe
Paschal Donohoe (born 19 September 1974) is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has served as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform since December 2022 and President of the Eurogroup since July 2020. He has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the ...
asking for his view on the idea. This was met with widespread criticism in Ireland. During an interview with
Ryan Tubridy
Ryan Tubridy (born 28 May 1973), nicknamed 'Tubs
' is an Irish broadcaster. He presents ''The Ryan Tubridy Show'' and '' The Late Late Show''.
Tubridy previously presented RTÉ 2fm breakfast radio show ''The Full Irish'', which at its end was ...
on the matter, it was revealed Noone she had never once seen an MMA match, was not familiar with how the sport operated, and at points seemed to confuse it with
professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...
, believing the fights to be pre-determined. Following the interview Noone made an about-face, admitting she had "jumped the gun" on the issue. Later that month, she called for the Irish Sports Council to recognise MMA.
In 2018, Noone was accused of being ageist after she described a priest from
County Mayo as an "
octogenarian
Ageing ( BE) or aging ( AE) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal. In ...
" on her
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
page. Her comment concerned the priest's homily during
Easter Sunday
Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the ''Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel P ...
mass at
Knock Shrine
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Knock, commonly referred to as Knock Shrine, is a Roman Catholic pilgrimage site and national shrine in the village of Knock, County Mayo, Ireland, where locals claimed to have seen an apparition in 1879 of the Ble ...
, County Mayo in which he indirectly outlined the churches
anti-abortion stance in the run-up to the
referendum on abortion in May 2018. Noone was criticised over censuring the
well-established opinions of the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
on the
subject while voluntarily attending the service. She defended her comments before apologising and deleting the comment on Twitter, citing she "overreached" and that "all opinions should be voiced".
In the run-up to the
2020 general election, she was criticised for tweeting a photograph of her campaign van parked on a footpath. Among those critical of her actions, and her response to criticism, was disability activist
Joanne O'Riordan
Joanne O'Riordan (born 24 April 1996) is an Irish activist and sports journalist who contributes to ''The Irish Times.'' From Millstreet in County Cork, she is one of seven currently living people born with the condition Tetra-amelia syndrome. ...
who accused Senator Noone of making "the lives of people with disabilities harder to live". Noone initially tweeted that people should "get a grip" and cease complaining, but then deleted the tweet, and she later apologised.
In the same election campaign, she referred to the
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the o ...
,
Leo Varadkar as "
autistic
The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...
", before denying having said it. Having been made aware that her remarks were recorded, she said that she didn't mean to use the word in that context and gave examples of potentially offensive words that could be used out of context, including "special" and "
nigger
In the English language, the word ''nigger'' is an ethnic slur used against black people, especially African Americans. Starting in the late 1990s, references to ''nigger'' have been progressively replaced by the euphemism , notably in cases ...
". She then clarified that she would "never use the n-word", and said it was a bad example. On 28 January 2020 she issued an apology.
The apology was not accepted by leading autism and Asperger campaigner Fiona Ferris, the deputy chief executive of AsIAm, an autism charity who called for Noone and other politicians to learn about autism. Ferris added "If we go about the attitude that people can say whatever they want and then totally withdraw a statement, I mean, the world would not be a very nice place." Carly Bailey, a candidate in the 2020 election and a parent of a son with autism added in separate comments that "her words have hurt a great many people on the autism spectrum and their families."
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Noone, Catherine
1976 births
Living people
Alumni of the University of Galway
Fine Gael senators
Irish solicitors
Local councillors in Dublin (city)
Members of the 24th Seanad
Members of the 25th Seanad
21st-century women members of Seanad Éireann
Politicians from County Mayo
People from Claremorris