Martina Anderson

Anderson was born in the Bogside in Derry, Northern Ireland, into a well-known Irish republican family.[5][6] Her father was a Protestant.[7] She has six sisters and three brothers, one of whom, Peter, is a former Sinn Féin councillor, and her niece is former Irish Senator and former Foyle MP Elisha McCallion.[5][8] She was educated at St Cecilia's College between 1973 and 1980.[9]

Anderson was arrested aged 18 leaving a furniture store in Derry and charged with possession of a firearm and causing an explosion. She was released on bail after spending two months in Armagh Women's Prison and fled across the border to Buncrana in County Donegal.[3][10]

Anderson was again arrested on 24 June 1985 at a flat in Glasgow with four other IRA members including Brighton bomber Patrick Magee. On 11 June 1986, all five were convicted of conspiring to cause explosions in England, although Magee was the only person convicted in relation to the Brighton hotel bombing.[11][12]

In 1989, Anderson married fellow prisoner and IRA member Paul Kavanagh at Full Sutton Prison.[13] By 1993, she was one of just two female category A prisoners in England, the other being fellow republican Ella O'Dwyer.[14] While at Durham Prison, Anderson obtained a first-class honours degree in social science from the Open University.[10] In 1994, she was transferred from Durham to Maghaberry Prison in Northern Ireland.[10] On 10 November 1998, Anderson was released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.[4]

In 2007, Anderson was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly as a Sinn Féin member for Foyle, along with Raymond McCartney.[15]

In May 2007, Anderson became one of the first Sinn Féin members to join the Northern Ireland Policing Board.[16]

In December 2007, Anderson said she was concerned that large numbers of migrant workers from mainly Catholic countries were being classed as 'Catholic/nationalist' in monitoring forms, rather than 'other'.[17] She said "Given that the entire basis of the legislation around monitoring was put in place to identify imbalances in the workforce between the local Catholic/nationalist and Protestant/unionist communities it is therefore vital that given the addition of migrant workers in the workforce, that they should clearly be categorised as having a community background of 'other'."[17] Employment monitoring by the Equality Commission records solely religion, and not political affiliation.[18]

She was selected by Sinn Féin to fight the Foyle constituency at the 2010 Westminster general election.[19] She lost to the SDLP incumbent, Mark Durkan, by 5,000 votes (11% of the vote). In May 2012 it was announced that she would be replacing Bairbre de Brún, as MEP for Northern Ireland.[20] Anderson retained her MEP seat in the 2014 election, topping the poll with 159,813 first-preference votes.[21]

In May 2016, she criticised the presence of Israeli lobbyists in the European Parliament: "We can give you a list of all the things we attempted to do, the Israelis are all over this place like a rash." The remarks led to criticism and condemnation, and the European Jewish Congress called on Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament, to discipline her. Anderson said she meant the word "rash" as a metaphor.[22][23][24]

In the 2019 European Parliament elections, Anderson was returned on the fifth ballot, after Dianne Dodds of the DUP and Naomi Long of Alliance. After losing her seat due to Brexit, on 10 February 2020 she became an MLA for Foyle for a second time, after being selected by Sinn Féin to replace Raymond McCartney.[1][25]

• Official Sinn Féin biography
• Martina Anderson on European Parliament website