Mairead McGuinness (born 13 June 1959) is an Irish politician who served as the

European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union The European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union is the member of the European Commission responsible for banking and finance. The current officeholder is Maria Luís Albuquerque. Responsibiliti ...

from October 2020 to November 2024. A member of

Fine Gael Fine Gael ( ; ; ) is a centre-right, liberal-conservative, 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 Éireann. The party had a member ...

, she previously served as

First Vice-President of the European Parliament There are fourteen vice-presidents of the European Parliament who sit in for the president in presiding over the plenary of the European Parliament. Role Vice-presidents are members of the Bureau Bureau ( ) may refer to: Agencies and organiza ...

from 2017 to 2020. She served as a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(MEP) for

East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

from 2004 to 2014 and for Midlands–North-West from 2014 to 2020. In the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

, she sat with the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...

(EPP).

Education and media career

McGuinness was the first female graduate of

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in

Agricultural economics Agricultural economics is an applied field of economics concerned with the application of economic theory in optimizing the production and distribution of food and fiber products. Agricultural economics began as a branch of economics that specif ...

in 1980. In 1984, she completed a diploma in accounting and finance and followed a career in the media before entering politics in 2004. She worked as a researcher on '' The Late Late Show'', as a presenter on

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

's '' Ear to the Ground'' and '' Celebrity Farm'', a journalist with the ''

Irish Farmers Journal The ''Irish Farmers Journal'' is a weekly agricultural newspaper (published Thursdays) which provides farming news, specialist advice, market data and country living features to the Irish agricultural industry. As of October 2019, it reportedl ...

'' and editor of the ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...

''s farming supplement. In 2014, McGuinness was awarded UCD Alumnus of the Year for Agriculture and Food Science.

Political career

Member of the European Parliament, 2004–2020

In early 2004, McGuinness declared her intention to seek a nomination for the

European Parliament election Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Until 2019, 751 ...

for Fine Gael. This followed speculation linking her to a similar move for the

Progressive Democrats The Progressive Democrats (, literally "The Democratic Party"), commonly referred to as the PDs, were a conservative liberal political party in Ireland. The party's history spanned 24 years, from its formation in 1985 to its dissolution in 20 ...

. At the selection convention in February 2004, she was selected to run alongside

Avril Doyle Avril Doyle (; born 18 April 1949) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as a Minister of State from 1986 to 1987 and from 1995 to 1997. She served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1999 to 2004 and 2004 to 2009, a ...

. This proved controversial, as it was widely expected that Fine Gael could win only one of the three seats in the East constituency. However, a stronger than expected performance from Fine Gael in the election saw both women being elected. During her time in parliament, McGuinness served on several European Parliament committees, including the

Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development The Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) is a committee of the European Parliament. Responsibilities of the Committee AGRI is the European Parliament committee responsible for: #The operation and development of the Common Agricul ...

and the delegation for relations with Australia and New Zealand. She was a substitute member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, the

Committee on Petitions The Committee on Petitions (PETI) is a permanent committee of the European Parliament to offer a petition process including a web portal to create and admit petitions. Its current chair, elected on 10 July 2019, is Dolors Montserrat, member of the ...

and the delegation for relations with

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. McGuiness was a Fine Gael candidate for the

Louth Louth may refer to: Australia *Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia * Louth, New South Wales, a town * Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia ** Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality Canada * Louth, Ontario Ireland * Cou ...

constituency at the 2007 general election, but was not elected. She was re-elected on the first count at the 2009 European election, topping the poll with 25.7% of the first preference votes. In April 2011, McGuinness announced that she wished to run for

President of Ireland The president of Ireland () is the head of state of Republic of Ireland, Ireland and the supreme commander of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Irish Defence Forces. The presidency is a predominantly figurehead, ceremonial institution, serving as ...

and would seek the Fine Gael party nomination for the 2011 presidential election. In July 2011, she was defeated for the nomination by

Gay Mitchell Gabriel Mitchell (born 30 December 1951) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Minister of State for European Affairs from 1994 to 1997 and Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1992 to 1993. He served as a Member of the European Parliament ...

. At the

2014 European election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 22 and 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielde ...

, she was re-elected to the European Parliament for the new Midlands–North-West constituency. In July 2014, McGuinness was elected

Vice-President of the European Parliament There are fourteen vice-presidents of the European Parliament who sit in for the President of the European Parliament, president in presiding over the plenary of the European Parliament. Role Vice-presidents are members of the Bureau (European P ...

; she secured an absolute majority to go through in the first round of voting by secret ballot. Under the leadership of President

Martin Schulz Martin Schulz (born 20 December 1955) is a German politician who was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Germany from 1994 to 2017 and a Member of the Bundestag (MdB) from 2017 to 2021. During his tenure he was Leader of the Progress ...

, she oversaw the parliament's information policy, press and citizens relations. In addition, she served as chairwoman of the Working Group on Information and Communication Policy and as co-chair of the Inter-Institutional Group on Communication. In addition to her committee assignments and duties as vice-president, McGuinness was a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals and the European Parliament Intergroup on Children's Rights. Alongside Karin Kadenbach, she also co-chaired the MEP Heart Group, a group of parliamentarians who have an interest in promoting measures that will help reduce the burden of

cardiovascular disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina, heart attack), heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, rheumati ...

s (CVD). In November 2016, One Voice For Languages welcomed McGuinness as their patron. Also in November 2016, McGuinness officially announced her candidacy for the office of

President of the European Parliament The president of the European Parliament presides over the debates and activities of the European Parliament. They also represent the Parliament within the European Union (EU) and internationally. The president's signature is required for Euro ...

. Instead, Italian MEP and former European Commissioner

Antonio Tajani Antonio Tajani (; born 4 August 1953) is an Italian politician who has been serving as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Foreign Affairs since 22 October 2022. He served as President of the Europe ...

was elected as the EPP group's nominee to replace incumbent president

; McGuinness received the second highest number of votes. Ahead of the 2019 European elections, she announced to run again for the post and was re-elected, exceeding the quota on the first count. Following the 2019 elections, McGuiness was part of a cross-party working group in charge of drafting the European Parliament's four-year work program on digitization.

European Commissioner, 2020–2024

McGuinness was one of two people, along with Andrew McDowell, who the

Irish government The Government of Ireland () is the executive authority of Ireland, headed by the , the head of government. The government – also known as the cabinet – is composed of ministers, each of whom must be a member of the , which consists of ...

nominated on 4 September 2020 for one position on the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

to replace

Phil Hogan Philip Hogan (born 4 July 1960) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as European Commissioner for Trade between 2019 and 2020, and previously European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development between 2014 and 2019. He p ...

. On 8 September 2020, McGuinness was proposed by

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; ; born 8 October 1958) is a German politician, serving as president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding position ...

as the new Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union. On 7 October 2020, she was confirmed to the post by a vote of 583–75 with 37 abstentions. In November 2023, McGuinness announced she would not contest the 2024 European Parliament elections.

Other activities

European Forum Alpbach The European Forum Alpbach (EFA) is an Austrian nonprofit organisation and foundation based in Vienna, Austria. It is best known for hosting the event of the same name in the village of Alpbach. It is an interdisciplinary platform for science, p ...

, Co-Chair of the Strategic Advisory Council (since 2024) * Friends of Europe, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2020)

Political positions

In 2019, McGuinness authored a report that proposed more direct meetings between religious associations and the European Parliament’s rapporteurs. The proposal was shelved after a group of MEPs complained that it would create "a highly undesirable and untransparent privileged lobby channel for religious organisations".

Personal life

McGuinness is married to Tom Duff, a sheep farmer. The couple have four children.Maïa de La Baume (September 8, 2020)
5 things to know about Mairead McGuinness, the EU's future finance chief
''

Politico Europe ''Politico Europe'' (stylized as ''POLITICO Europe'') is the European edition of the American news organization '' Politico'' reporting on political affairs of the European Union. Its headquarters are located in Brussels with additional offices in ...

''.

References

External links

*
Mairead McGuinness' page on the VoteWatch website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:McGuinness, Mairead 1959 births Alumni of University College Dublin Articles containing video clips 21st-century women MEPs for the Republic of Ireland Fine Gael MEPs Irish Independent people Irish women journalists Living people MEPs for the Republic of Ireland 2004–2009 MEPs for the Republic of Ireland 2009–2014 MEPs for the Republic of Ireland 2014–2019 MEPs for the Republic of Ireland 2019–2024 Politicians from County Louth RTÉ television presenters The Late Late Show (Irish talk show) Irish European commissioners European commissioners (2019–2024) Broadcasters from County Louth Fine Gael candidates in Dáil elections