Mary Butler (born 29 September 1966) is an Irish

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christian- ...

politician who has served as a

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

since July 2020. She has been 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) for the

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

constituency since

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

. She previously served as Chair of the Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation from 2016 to 2020.

Political career

She was the Fianna Fáil junior Spokesperson for Older People and Chair of Oireachtas Cross Party group on Dementia. She had been a member of

Waterford City and County Council Waterford City and County Council ( ga, Comhairle Cathrach agus Contae Phort Láirge) is the authority responsible for local government in the City of Waterford and County Waterford in Ireland. It came into operation on 1 June 2014 after the ...

from 2014 to 2016, before her election to the Dáil in

. Butler was opposed to the legalisation of abortion in Ireland. She called for a No vote in the 2018 referendum on abortion, and co-organised an event calling for a No vote. Butler put forward a bill in 2018 with the aim of banning tattoos and intimate piercings for people under the age of eighteen; this bill lapsed with the dissolution of the Dáil. In 2020, she was appointed as

Minister of State at the Department of Health The Minister of State at the Department of Health is a junior ministerial post in the Department of Health of the Government of Ireland who may perform functions delegated by the Minister for Health. A Minister of State Minister of State is ...

with responsibility for Mental Health and Older People.

Canvassing controversy

Former

Brendan Kenneally Brendan Kenneally (born 1 April 1955) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Waterford constituency, he was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1989 general election. In February 1992, he was appointe ...

canvassed for Butler during the 2016 general election campaign, at which she was first elected to the Dáil. Bill Kenneally, a cousin of Kenneally's, was convicted of 1980s sexual abuse of boys, and Kenneally had previously acknowledged that he had been aware of his cousin's crimes before his sentencing to 14 years imprisonment. Butler received criticism for Kenneally's involvement in her 2016 campaign. However, four years later, she again had Keneally canvass for her ahead of the 2020 general election. Kenneally's canvassing for Mary Butler in 2020 became public knowledge when it emerged that he had visited the homes of some of those who had been abused to seek their votes. It also emerged that Butler was renting her constituency office from Kenneally, and when it did so, she stated in an interview that she would move elsewhere and did so in early 2020.

Personal life

Butler is married to Michael, and they have three children.

References

External links

Mary Butler's page on the Fianna Fáil website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Mary 1966 births Living people Members of the 32nd Dáil Members of the 33rd Dáil Fianna Fáil TDs Local councillors in County Waterford Alumni of Waterford Institute of Technology 21st-century women Teachtaí Dála Ministers of State of the 33rd Dáil Women ministers of state of the Republic of Ireland