Marian Harkin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Marian Harkin MEP
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office June 2004 |
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| Constituency | North-West |
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| Born | 26 November 1953 Ballintogher, County Sligo |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Political party | Independent |
| Other political affiliations |
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe / European Democratic Party |
| Spouse | Seán Harkin (deceased) |
| Alma mater | University College Dublin |
| Website | marianharkin.ie |
Marian Harkin (born 26 November 1953 in Ballintogher, County Sligo) is an Irish politician. She was elected as an independent Teachta Dála (TD) to Dáil Éireann at the 2002 general election for the Sligo-Leitrim constituency, receiving the highest number of first preference votes in the constituency.[1] She was subsequently elected to the European Parliament in 2004 and retired[2] from her Dáil seat at the 2007 general election to concentrate on her European seat. She was re-elected to the European Parliament at the 2009 election.
She worked as a teacher of mathematics in a secondary school in Sligo town for 23 years. She is a graduate of University College Dublin with a BSc degree in geology. She is a native of County Sligo, but lived in Manorhamilton, County Leitrim with her husband, Seán Harkin, where he ran a grocery business until his death in 1996. After her husband's death, Harkin and her two sons moved to Sligo town where they currently live.
While living in Manorhamilton, Harkin became active in the voluntary and community sector and developed the view that people living in disadvantaged areas such as Connacht had to rely on their own initiative and energy to progress development of their region. Her work at local level led to her appointment to Developing the West Together, which evolved into the Council for the West, of which Harkin became chairperson.
In the 2004 European Parliament election, she was returned as a member of the European Parliament for the North-West constituency.[3] She had previously contested the 1999 European Parliament election in the same constituency (then called Connacht-Ulster), but had narrowly failed to be elected, losing out to Dana Rosemary Scallon for the third seat in the constituency. However in 2004, the position was reversed and Harkin was returned at Scallon's expense.
She is a member of the European Parliament's Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), which comprises 100 MEPs from 22 Member States. ALDE is the third biggest group in the Parliament holding the balance of power position.[4][5]
[edit] References
- ^ "Ms. Marian Harkin". Oireachtas Members Database. http://oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=0&HouseNum=29&MemberID=1802&ConstID=164. Retrieved on 12 May 2009.
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Marian Harkin". ElectionsIreland.org. http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=4462. Retrieved on 12 May 2009.
- ^ [2]
- ^ [3]
