Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin
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| Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin | |
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Parliamentary Leader of Sinn Féin in Dáil Éireann
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| Assumed office 2002 |
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| Constituency | Cavan Monaghan |
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| Born | September 18, 1953 |
| Political party | Sinn Féin |
Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (IPA: [ˈkɰiːvʲiːnʲ oː ˈkɰeːlɑːnʲ]; born 18 September 1953) is a Sinn Féin politician from Ireland. He has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for Cavan Monaghan since 1997 and is currently the parliamentary leader of Sinn Féin in Dáil Éireann.
[edit] Background, early and private life
Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin was born in Monaghan in 1953.[1] He was a bank official with the Bank of Ireland in the 1970s, and served in a number of towns, including Ballinasloe. He became a senior bank official but then left the bank to concentrate on politics.
Ó Caoláin is married, his wife's name is Briege and they have five children.[1]
Ó Caoláin underwent a successful cardiac surgery early in 2007. On 19 June 2007 it was reported that he was rushed to hospital, [2] but he was released shortly thereafter and has since made a full recovery.
[edit] Political career
He has been active in republican circles for years. He was Director of Elections in the Anti H-Block campaign of 1981 when Kieran Doherty was elected TD for the Cavan-Monaghan constituency. Between 1982 and 1985 he was general manager of the republican newspaper An Phoblacht. Ó Caoláin's first political success came in 1985 when he was elected to Monaghan County Council as a Sinn Féin councillor. In 1989, loyalist paramilitaries attempted to kill him and another Sinn Féin councillor. In the 1984 and 1989 European Parliament elections he stood unsuccessfully in the Connacht-Ulster constituency.
Ó Caoláin represented Sinn Féin at the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation in Dublin in the mid-1990s and was also a member of the Sinn Féin negotiations team during the talks which led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. In the 1997 general election he was elected to Dáil Éireann for the Cavan Monaghan constituency, making him the first Sinn Féin TD elected since 1957 and the first Sinn Féin TD to take his seat at Dáil Éireann in Leinster House. He was subsequently re-elected in 2002 and joined by four other Sinn Féin deputies. He was re-elected in 2007. Ó Caoláin is currently Sinn Féin's Parliamentary Group Leader in the Dáil and is "spokesperson on the peace process and the Six Counties"[3] (Northern Ireland), as well as on health and children.
[edit] References and footnotes
- ^ a b Profile of Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin. Sinn Féin Party Website. Retrieved on 2008-05-08.
- ^ SF's O'Caolain rushed to hospital from Dáil office.
- ^ Quote from the Sinn Féin website. Many Irish republicans use the term "Six Counties" to refer to Northern Ireland. See Alternative names for Northern Ireland.
| Oireachtas | ||
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| Preceded by Jimmy Leonard (Fianna Fáil) |
Teachta Dála for Cavan-Monaghan 1997–present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| Preceded by Newly created position |
Parliamentary Leader of Sinn Féin in Dáil Éireann 1997–present |
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