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'Michelle Gildernew' (born 28 March 1970, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland) is an Irish Republican politician. She is the Sinn Féin Member of Parliament (abstentionist) for the Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency. In the current Northern Irish Assembly Cabinet, she is the 3rd and current Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development. Gildernew is also Vice-Chairperson of Ógra Shinn Féin in Fermangh and South Tyrone.

Contents

Beginnings

Political career

External links

Beginnings

Gildernew was born in Dungannon, County Tyrone and educated at the University of Ulster, located in Coleraine, County Londonderry. Gildernew attended St. Comhghalls Secondary School, Lisnaskea for one year. Her family has a history of controversy surrounding the Unionist-dominated Northern Ireland government of the 1950s-60s. In 1968, a unmarried, single, childless, 19 year old Protestant woman, Emily Beattie, a female secretary to a local UUP politician, was given a public housing assignment in Caledon, County Tyrone ahead of a Catholic woman, Annie-Mary Gildernew (Gildernew's grandmother), who had a large family.
The Northern Ireland Government were accused of sectarian motives for this action and were highly criticised at the time.

Political career

She first won the seat in the 2001 election, winning the seat (previously held by Ken Maginnis of the Ulster Unionist Party) with a majority of 53, due to a divided Unionist vote. The defeated UUP candidate claimed that because a polling station in the west of the constituency was kept open after the allotted time due to threats from Republicans, the result was invalid, but Judge Robert Carswell upheld the vote result because it was decided that the event did not significantly affect result.
Gildernew retained the seat in the 2005 vote, significantly increasing her majority to 4,582, although had the two main unionist parties agreed a voting pact (as had happened up to and including 1997), an agreed unionist candidate may have won the seat. However, had there not been two Unionist candidates phsephologists maintain Gildernew would have retained her seat.
In keeping with the Sinn Féin policy of abstentionism, Gildernew has not taken up her seat in the UK parliament.
She is also a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly where she served as vice chair of the Committee of Social Development and as the Minister for Agriculture. She is a member of the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle (National Executive) and is the party's spokeswoman on equality and housing.

External links

★ Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Michelle Gildernew MP

★ TheyWorkForYou.com - Michelle Gildernew MP

★ Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Profile

★ Northern Irish Assembly Profile