Órfhlaith Acife Begley (; born 19 December 1991) is an Irish

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

politician and solicitor who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for West Tyrone since a 2018 by-election.

Early life and career

Órfhlaith Acife Begley was born on 19 December 1991 in

Carrickmore Carrickmore () is a small town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated in the historic barony of Omagh East, the civil parish of Termonmaguirk and the Roman Catholic Parish of Termonmaguirc between Cookstown, Dungannon and O ...

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...

, Northern Ireland. She is the daughter of former

Omagh District Council chairman Seán Begley. Begley grew up in Carrickmore, and played

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

at the local club. She studied Law and Politics at the

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

. She then studied at the Institute of Professional and Legal Studies, graduating as a solicitor. Begley then worked as a solicitor in

Portadown Portadown ( ) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is based on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population ...

County Armagh County Armagh ( ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders t ...

with her brother.

Political career

Begley was selected as the Sinn Féin candidate for West Tyrone in the

2018 West Tyrone by-election A by-election was held in the UK Parliament constituency of West Tyrone on 3 May 2018, following the resignation of Barry McElduff, who had been the Member of Parliament (MP) since 2017. McElduff had become embroiled in a social media controve ...

on 26 February. The by-election had been called following the resignation of the previous Sinn Féin MP

Barry McElduff Columba Barry McElduff (; born 16 August 1966) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the West Tyrone UK parliament constituency. He was also a Member of the Legislative Assembly in the Northern Ireland As ...

on 15 January, after he had posted a video to

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

appearing to make light of the

Kingsmill massacre The Kingsmill massacre, also referred to as the Whitecross massacre, was a mass shooting that took place on 5 January 1976 near the village of Whitecross, County Armagh, Whitecross in south County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Gunmen stopped a mini ...

. She was elected with a majority of 7,956. Begley was the first female MP to represent the constituency since it was created in 1997. She held the seat in the 2019 general election with a majority of 7,478. She does not sit in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

, given her party's long-standing policy of

abstentionism Abstentionism is the political practice of standing for election to a deliberative assembly while refusing to take up any seats won or otherwise participate in the assembly's business. Abstentionism differs from an election boycott in that abs ...

Personal life

Begley became engaged to engineer Conor Carson in February 2021, and they married on 29 December 2022 in Carrickmore.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Begley, Orfhlaith 1991 births Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Northern Irish constituencies Living people Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Tyrone constituencies (since 1922) Politicians from County Tyrone Sinn Féin MPs (post-1921) UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–2024 UK MPs 2024–present 21st-century women politicians from Northern Ireland People from Carrickmore Solicitors from Northern Ireland