Maria Caraher (born 1968 or 1969) is an

Irish republican Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate. The develop ...

activist, school principal and former politician.

Life

Born in

Cullyhanna Cullyhanna () is a small village and townland in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The village extends further over the townlands of Tullynavall and Freeduff. It had a population of 306 in the 2001 Census. It is within the Newry and Mourne Distri ...

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 ...

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

to a republican family, she joined

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 ...

, as did her brothers Michael and

Fergal Fergal or Feargal are Irish, male given names. They are anglicized forms of the name Fearghal.Mairéad Byrne, Irish Baby Names – 25 Apr 2005 The arts *Fergal Keane, OBE (born 1961), Irish writer and broadcaster *Feargal Sharkey (born 1958), for ...

. Fergal was killed in disputed circumstances at a

Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...

checkpoint in 1990, while Michael was convicted of involvement in the South Armagh Sniper group of the

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reun ...

, which killed seven British soldiers and two police officers. In 1996, Caraher was elected to the

Northern Ireland Forum The Northern Ireland Forum for Political Dialogue was a body set up in 1996 as part of a process of negotiations that eventually led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The forum was elected, with five members being elected for each Westmin ...

Newry and Armagh Newry and Armagh can refer to: * Newry and Armagh (Assembly constituency) *Newry and Armagh (UK Parliament constituency) Newry and Armagh is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current MP is Mickey Brady o ...

, but she did not stand in the subsequent

1998 Northern Ireland Assembly election The 1998 Northern Ireland Assembly election took place on Thursday, 25 June 1998. This was the first election to the new devolved Northern Ireland Assembly. Six members from each of Northern Ireland's eighteen Westminster Parliamentary constit ...

. In 1999, Caraher went on a speaking tour of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

as a representative of the South Amargh Farmers and Residents Committee. Caraher was principal of Bunscoil an Iúir, an

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 ...

school in

Newry Newry (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Clanrye river in counties Armagh and Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011. Newry was founded in 1144 alongside a Cistercian monastery, althoug ...

,Praise heaped on Irish-language nursery school
", ''

Newry Democrat The ''Newry Democrat'' is a full colour newspaper serving Newry, County Down, Northern Ireland. It was published by Thomas Crosbie Holdings and in 2010 was acquired by the Alpha Newspaper Group, owned by John Taylor, Baron Kilclooney John D ...

'', 29 March 2006 leaving the role in June 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caraher, Maria 1968 births Living people Members of the Northern Ireland Forum Schoolteachers from Northern Ireland Sinn Féin politicians Politicians from County Armagh