Finian McGrath (born 9 April 1953) is an Irish former
Independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
politician who served as
Minister of State for Disability Issues from 2016 to 2020. He served as a
Teachta Dála
A Teachta Dála ( , ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament). It is the equivalent of terms such as ''Member of Parli ...
(TD) from 2002 to 2020.
Early and personal life
Born in
Tuam
Tuam ( ; ga, Tuaim , meaning 'mound' or 'burial-place') is a town in Ireland and the second-largest settlement in County Galway. It is west of the midlands of Ireland, about north of Galway city. Humans have lived in the area since the Bronz ...
,
County Galway, in 1953. He was educated at
University College Dublin
University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...
. He went on to become a primary school principal at Scoil Plás Mhuire for Boys in
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 c ...
, before entering politics. He had two daughters with his wife Anne, who died in November 2009. McGrath was a contestant on the
''You're a Star'' charity special in summer 2005, where he came in second. He released a charity single in December 2005, which featured the Christmas song "
Angels We Have Heard on High
"Angels We Have Heard on High" is a Christmas carol to the hymn tune "Gloria" from a traditional French song of unknown origin called "", with paraphrased English lyrics by James Chadwick. The song's subject is the birth of Jesus Christ as narr ...
" and the classic "
Bad, Bad Leroy Brown". All proceeds from the sales of this single were donated to
Down syndrome
Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual dis ...
Ireland.
Political career
He was an unsuccessful candidate in the
Dublin North-Central constituency at the
1992 and
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
general elections. He was elected to
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 ...
in
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...
, with the second-highest vote in the
Clontarf local electoral area. He was first elected to
Dáil Éireann at the
2002 general election, where he stood as an
Independent Health Alliance candidate in the Dublin North-Central constituency. He joined the
technical group
In politics, a technical group or mixed group is a heterogenous parliamentary group composed of elected officials from political parties of differing ideologies (or independent of any party) who are not numerous enough to form groups on their own. ...
, established to ensure Dáil speaking time for Independent TDs. In March 2003, due to being a
dual mandate TD, he gave up his Dublin City Council seat to Ger Drogan, who later was replaced by Fintan Cassidy, who failed to get elected in the subsequent
2004 local elections.
McGrath was re-elected to the
30th Dáil
3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...
at the
2007 general election, confounding predictions that he would lose due to the loss of a seat from the constituency. He garnered a large number of transfers from the
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 G ...
and
Labour Party candidates.
As an Independent member of the 30th Dáil, McGrath pledged his support for the new government formed in June 2007. In so doing, he secured a deal with
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 ...
Bertie Ahern
Bartholomew Patrick "Bertie" Ahern (born 12 September 1951) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1997 to 2008, Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1994 to 2008, Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997, Tánaiste a ...
, which he made public by entering it in the Dáil record. This public announcement was hailed by many observers who had criticised other Independent TDs such as
Michael Lowry
Michael Lowry (born 13 March 1953) is an Irish Independent politician who has served as a Teachta Dála (TD) since 1987, currently for the Tipperary constituency. He previously served as Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications from 1 ...
and
Jackie Healy-Rae for keeping similar deals secret. On 20 October 2008,
following the 2009 Budget, McGrath withdrew his support for the government in protest at the abolition of an automatic medical card for the over-70s, cuts in education and the increase of the pupil-teacher ratio. Following the election of
Pearse Doherty to the
Dáil, McGrath joined the Technical group, which consisted of the Sinn Féin deputies and the Independent
Maureen O'Sullivan
Maureen O'Sullivan (17 May 1911 – 23 June 1998) was an Irish-American actress, who played Jane in the ''Tarzan'' series of films during the era of Johnny Weissmuller. She performed with such actors as Laurence Olivier, Greta Garbo, William ...
. He was re-elected at the
2011 general election, where he served as chair of the Technical group.
McGrath endorsed the Independent candidate Damien O'Farrell at the
2009 local elections for the Clontarf local electoral area in
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 ...
, who was elected topping the poll.
During the
2011 presidential election, McGrath initially agreed to support Senator
David Norris for nomination as a candidate. On 2 August, Norris publicly announced at a press conference that he was withdrawing from the presidential race. This followed the decision of McGrath, and the TDs
John Halligan and
Thomas Pringle
Thomas Pringle (5 January 1789 – 5 December 1834) was a Scottish writer, poet and abolitionist. Known as the father of South African poetry, he was the first successful English language poet and author to describe South Africa's scenery, nati ...
to withdraw their support following revelations that Norris had written a letter to an Israeli court asking
clemency
A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...
for his former partner
Ezra Nawi
Ezra Yitzhak Nawi ( he, עזרא יצחק נאווי; 1951 – 9 January 2021) was an Israeli Mizrahi Jew, left-wing, human rights activist and pacifist. He was particularly active among the Bedouin herders and farmers of the South Hebron Hills ...
, who was then facing criminal charges. Norris withdrew his candidacy on 2 August due to the controversy.
Sinn Féin proposed
Martin McGuinness
James Martin Pacelli McGuinness ( ga, Séamus Máirtín Pacelli Mag Aonghusa; 23 May 1950 – 21 March 2017) was an Irish republican politician and statesman from Sinn Féin and a leader within the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) during ...
for their nomination for a presidential candidate. McGrath agreed, along with four other independent TDs, to sign McGuinness's nomination paper.
McGrath resigned as chair of the technical group in October 2012, after a dispute with
Mick Wallace
Michael Wallace (born 9 November 1955) is an Irish politician and former property developer who has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Ireland for the South constituency since July 2019. He is a member of Independents 4 Change, ...
, over Wallace's participation in the loose alliance related to speaking rights in the Dáil. He joined the
Independent Alliance at its inception in 2016. He contested the
2016 general election under that banner, in
Dublin Bay North owing to the abolition of Dublin North-Central. He was re-elected to the Dáil and then entered
talks on government formation. On 6 May 2016, he supported the nomination of
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 ...
leader
Enda Kenny
Enda Kenny (born 24 April 1951) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 2011 to 2017, Leader of Fine Gael from 2002 to 2017, Minister for Defence from May to July 2014 and 2016 to 2017, Leader of the Opposition from ...
as
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 ...
, and was appointed by the
new government as
Minister of State for Disability Issues. He attended
cabinet meetings, without a vote, making him a "Super Junior Minister". He appointed to the same position by
Leo Varadkar when he succeeded Kenny as Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach.
In January 2020, in advance of the
2020 general election, McGrath announced that he would not be seeking re-election, but would return to other forms of political activism to support people with disabilities. He continued in office as junior minister until the appointment of a new government in June 2020.
Political beliefs
Describing himself as "someone who comes from the tradition of
Tone and
Connolly Connolly may refer to:
People
* Connolly (surname)
Places
* Connolly, Western Australia, a suburb in Perth, Western Australia
* Connolly, County Clare, Ireland
* Connolly Park in Collooney, County Sligo, Ireland
* Dublin Connolly railway station ...
", McGrath holds left-wing political views. He has cited
health
Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...
,
education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...
and
disability
Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, ...
as his policy priorities. He has also campaigned against the
Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror
, image ...
and the U.S. military's use of
Shannon Airport
Shannon Airport ( ga, Aerfort na Sionainne) is an international airport located in County Clare in the Republic of Ireland. It is adjacent to the Shannon Estuary and lies halfway between Ennis and Limerick. The airport is the third busiest ai ...
as a stopover, and on local environmental issues.
McGrath has spoken in support of
Fidel Castro's
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
government in
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
. When challenged on Cuba's supposed poor human rights record, McGrath replied that "Cuba has a different kind of democracy to Ireland."
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcgrath, Finian
1953 births
20th-century Irish people
Living people
Independent TDs
Irish schoolteachers
Local councillors in Dublin (city)
Members of the 29th Dáil
Members of the 30th Dáil
Members of the 31st Dáil
Members of the 32nd Dáil
Ministers of State of the 32nd Dáil
People from Tuam
Politicians from County Galway
You're a Star contestants