Jump to content

Eoin Ó Broin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eoin Ó Broin
Ó Broin in 2016
Teachta Dála
Assumed office
February 2016
ConstituencyDublin Mid-West
Belfast City Councillor
In office
7 June 2001 – 2004
Preceded byMick Conlon
Succeeded byCaral Ni Chuilin
ConstituencyOldpark
Personal details
BornSeptember 1972 (age 52)[1][2]
Cabinteely, Dublin, Ireland
Political partySinn Féin
Domestic partnerLynn Boylan[3]
EducationCrown Woods School[4]
Blackrock College
Alma mater

Eoin Ó Broin (Irish pronunciation: [ˈoːnʲ ˈbˠɾˠɪnʲ]; born September 1972) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician and writer who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for Dublin Mid-West constituency since the 2016 general election.[5]

Background

[edit]

Ó Broin is from Cabinteely, County Dublin.[4] He was educated at Crown Woods School and Blackrock College. He holds a degree in Cultural Studies from the University of East London and an MA in Irish politics from Queen's University Belfast. For a period in the late 1980s he was the bassist in Dublin rock band The Foremen, with whom he performed on the RTÉ TV show Jo Maxi in 1989.[6]

Political career

[edit]

Ó Broin was elected to Belfast City Council in 2001,[7] stepping down in 2004. He was the National Organiser of Ógra Shinn Féin between 1995 and 1997. He was Sinn Féin's Director of European Affairs co-ordinating his party's team in the European Parliament in Brussels, from 2004 to 2007. He is a former member of Sinn Féin's governing body[8] and a regular columnist with the republican newspaper An Phoblacht.[9]

He campaigned against the Treaty of Lisbon and spoke at the National Forum on Europe on behalf of Sinn Féin and the No 2 Lisbon campaign.

He is also a published writer. His first book, Matxinada - Basque Nationalism and Radical Basque Youth Movements was published in English in 2004 and in Spanish in 2005. His second book, Sinn Féin and the Politics of Left Republicanism was published by Pluto Press in 2009 and the launch was held in Pearse Street Public Library on 16 February 2009.[10] Ó Broin is also the editor of Left Republican Review. As a freelance writer he has articles published in An Phoblacht, Magill, Village Magazine and The Irish Times.[11]

He was an unsuccessful Sinn Féin candidate for the Dún Laoghaire constituency at the 2007 general election.[12] He ran for Dublin Mid-West at the 2011 general election. He polled 5,060 votes being beaten to the last seat in the constituency by Derek Keating of Fine Gael. He subsequently declared his intention to run for the Seanad, and was defeated in his election campaign. In 2013, Ó Broin was co-opted by Sinn Féin onto South Dublin County Council to represent Clondalkin local electoral area, after sitting councillor Matthew McDonagh resigned his seat.[13]

In the 2016 general election, he topped the poll in the Dublin Mid-West constituency with 22.7% of the first preference votes, and was elected on the first count.[14] Mark Ward was co-opted to fill Ó Broin's seat on South Dublin County Council.[15]

In May 2019, the election of Frances Fitzgerald TD as a Member of the European Parliament created a vacancy in the Dublin Mid-West constituency. At the resulting by-election in November 2019, Ó Broin managed the campaign of the Sinn Féin candidate Mark Ward. Wards's victory gave Sinn Féin two of the constituency's four seats.[16]

At the general election in February 2020, Ó Broin again topped the poll, with 26.1% of the first-preference votes. He was again re-elected on the first count, and his transfers secured Mark Ward's re-election on the second count.[17][18]

As of 2021, Ó Broin is Sinn Féin's spokesperson on housing.[19][20] In May 2019, he published a book entitled Home: Why Public Housing is the Answer which specifically addressed the issue of housing in Ireland. Home was generally well received by critics in Ireland, and became a surprise bestseller.[21][22][23] Housing proved one of the key issues in the 2020 Irish general election and factored into Sinn Féin's significant gains in the voting.[20][24]

Personal life

[edit]

Ó Broin is the partner of Lynn Boylan, a Sinn Féin MEP for Dublin.[25]

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Matxinada. Basque Nationalism & Radical Basque Youth Movements (2008)
  • Sinn Féin and the politics of left republicanism (2009)
  • A Better Ireland: Arguments for a New Republic (2015)
  • Home: Why Public Housing is the Answer (2019)
  • Defects: Living with the Legacy of the Celtic Tiger (2021)
  • The Dignity of Everyday Life: Celebrating Michael Scott's Busáras (2021) [with Mal McCann]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Meagher, John (14 May 2021). "Profile: Eoin Ó Broin, the Blackrock College boy who became Sinn Féin's housing hero". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 18 August 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  2. ^ Ryan, Tim. Nealon's Guide to the 33rd Dáil and 26th Seanad and the 2019 Local and European Elections. Irish Times. p. 60.
  3. ^ Holland, Kitty (27 February 2016). "Profile: Eoin Ó Broin (SF)". Irish Times. Archived from the original on 17 June 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  4. ^ a b Edwards, Rodney (17 January 2021). "As schoolboy, Sinn Fein's Eoin Ó Broin found himself following the Troubles in Northern Ireland and trying to work out why there was so much division". Belfast Telegraph. Archived from the original on 27 February 2021. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  5. ^ "Eoin Ó Broin". Oireachtas Members Database. Archived from the original on 12 July 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  6. ^ "Dublin band The Foremen perform 'Halloween Café'". rte.ie archives. 1989. Archived from the original on 7 June 2022. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  7. ^ "Belfast City Council, 1993 - 2011". ark.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 26 July 2018. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  8. ^ Thompson, Susan (8 July 2015). "Secret Cerberus meetings between Peter Robinson, ex-US Vice President and £7m lawyer". The Irish News. Belfast. Archived from the original on 8 July 2015.
  9. ^ "In defence of populism – Eoin Ó Broin answers 'Sunday Business Post' - An Phoblacht". anphoblacht.com. 3 January 2013. Archived from the original on 27 May 2014. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  10. ^ "Sinn Féin and the politics of Left Republicanism, Eoin Ó Broin, Book Launch February 16th". The Cedar Lounge Revolution. 15 February 2009. Archived from the original on 11 April 2010.
  11. ^ Ó Broin, Eoin (16 June 2009). "SF must ask why it failed to 'close deal' with voters". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 17 June 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2009.
  12. ^ "Eoin Ó Broin". ElectionsIreland.org. Archived from the original on 11 July 2020. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  13. ^ "Eoin Ó Broin co-opted onto South Dublin County Council". sinnfein.ie. 14 October 2013. Archived from the original on 20 October 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
  14. ^ "Constituency: Dublin Mid-West". Irish Independent. 27 February 2016. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  15. ^ Lyne, Laura (21 March 2016). "New councillors take seats in council chamber". The Echo. Dublin. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  16. ^ O'Halloran, Marie (30 November 2019). "Byelection Dublin Mid-West: Sinn Féin's Mark Ward elected". The Irish Times. Dublin. Archived from the original on 16 June 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  17. ^ Holland, Kitty (10 February 2020) [9 February 2020]. "Dublin Mid West results: Jubilant scenes as Gino Kenny takes final seat. Fine Gael's Emer Higgins also elected while Fianna Fáil's John Curran loses out". The Irish Times. Dublin. Archived from the original on 16 June 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  18. ^ "Election 2020: Dublin Mid-West". The Irish Times. Dublin. 10 February 2020. Archived from the original on 16 June 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  19. ^ "Eoin Ó Broin". SinnFein.ie. Sinn Féin. Archived from the original on 17 June 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  20. ^ a b Carswell, Simon (26 January 2020). "Why are Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil refusing to go into coalition with Sinn Féin?". IrishTimes.ie. Irish Times. Archived from the original on 3 February 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2020. The party's housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin is another of the Dáil's best performers with a comprehensive understanding of his brief, another key area of focus for voters in this election.
  21. ^ McGreevy, Ronan (10 March 2020). "Election proves a win win for Eoin Ó Broin's book sales". The Irish Times. Dublin. ISSN 0791-5144. Archived from the original on 6 October 2021. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  22. ^ Fahey, Tony. "Home. Why Public Housing Is the Answer – a fluent, serious book by Eoin Ó Broin". The Irish Times. Dublin. Archived from the original on 17 June 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  23. ^ O'Doherty, Cahir (30 May 2019). "Public housing answer to Ireland's crisis, argues new book". Irish Central. New York. Archived from the original on 17 June 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  24. ^ Rea, Ailbhe (5 February 2020). "The surge of Sinn Féin". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 6 February 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2020. Ó Broin – along with the party leader Mary Lou McDonald; Pearse Doherty, the Sinn Féin finance spokesperson; and Louise O'Reilly, its spokesperson on health – has been a crucial player in the party's recent gains.
  25. ^ "Doherty, Andrews, Lynn Boylan and Ó Ríordáin elected MEPs". RTÉ News. 12 June 2024.
[edit]