Denise Mitchell
{{Short description|Irish politician (born 1976)}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=October 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-suffix = TD
| image = Denise Mitchell 2024 (cropped).jpg
| caption = Mitchell in 2024
| office = Teachta Dála
| term_start = February 2016
| term_end =
| constituency = Dublin Bay North
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1976|11|22|df=y}}{{cite book|author=Tim Ryan|date=2020|title=Nealon's Guide to the 33rd Dáil and 26th Seanad and the 2019 Local and European Elections|publisher=Grand Canal Publishing}}
| birth_place = Coolock, Dublin, Ireland
| death_date =
| death_place =
| party = Sinn Féin
| spouse = {{marriage|Alan Moran|2007}}
| children = 6
| website =
|}}
Denise Mitchell (born 22 November 1976) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Bay North constituency since the 2016 general election.{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Denise-Mitchell.D.2016-10-03/|title=Denise Mitchell|work=Oireachtas Members Database|access-date=11 July 2019|archive-date=11 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190711235617/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Denise-Mitchell.D.2016-10-03|url-status=live}}
Political career
Mitchell was first elected to Dublin City Council at the 2014 local elections representing the Beaumont-Donaghmede electoral area.{{cite web|url=http://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=9516|title=Denise Mitchell|work=ElectionsIreland.org|access-date=11 July 2019|archive-date=22 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222074314/https://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=9516|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/election-2016/candidates/754489-denise-mitchell/|title=Election 2016: Denise Mitchell|work=RTÉ News|date=1 March 2016|access-date=1 March 2016|archive-date=6 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190606121810/https://www.rte.ie/news/election-2016/candidates/754489-denise-mitchell/|url-status=live}}
A well-known community activist locally, Mitchell is described as being a close ally to Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald.{{cite web|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/election-2020-denise-mitchell-sinn-f%C3%A9in-1.4167438|title=Election 2020: Denise Mitchell (Sinn Féin)|work=TheJournal.ie|access-date=28 June 2020}} In 2016, she listed the campaign calling to Repeal the 8th amendment as a priority for her if elected to the Dáil.{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/una-mullally-election-result-is-not-a-victory-for-anti-abortion-lobby-1.2557019|title=Una Mullally: Election result is not a victory for anti-abortion lobby|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=28 June 2020|archive-date=11 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711113533/http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/una-mullally-election-result-is-not-a-victory-for-anti-abortion-lobby-1.2557019|url-status=live}}
In the 2016 general election, she took the fourth of five seats in the newly created Dublin Bay North constituency.
In the 2020 general election, she received the single highest vote of any candidate in the State, securing 21,344 first-preference votes and being elected on the first count.{{cite web|url=https://www.thejournal.ie/general-election-2020-candidates-most-votes-5001042-Feb2020/|title=Poll-toppers: the 10 candidates who secured the most first-preference votes in this year's election|work=TheJournal.ie|date=10 February 2020 |access-date=28 June 2020|archive-date=3 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703160235/https://www.thejournal.ie/general-election-2020-candidates-most-votes-5001042-Feb2020/|url-status=live}}{{cite news |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/dublin-bay-north-results-social-democrats-labour-ff-take-final-seats-1.4165182 |title=Dublin Bay North results: Social Democrats, Labour, FF take final seats |date=10 February 2020 |orig-date=9 February 2020 |first=Paul |last=Cullen |newspaper=Irish Times |location=Dublin |access-date=5 June 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210606065549/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/dublin-bay-north-results-social-democrats-labour-ff-take-final-seats-1.4165182 |archive-date=6 June 2021}}{{cite news |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/election2020/dublin-bay-north |title=Election 2020: Dublin Bay North |date=10 February 2020 |newspaper=Irish Times |location=Dublin |access-date=5 June 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210606065538/https://www.irishtimes.com/election2020/dublin-bay-north |archive-date=6 June 2021}}
At the 2024 general election, Mitchell was re-elected to the Dáil and is the only Dublin Bay North candidate to have been returned at each election since the constituency's creation in 2016.https://www.rte.ie/news/regional/2024/1202/1484184-dublin-bay-north-how-it-started-how-it-ended/
She has served in various roles in the Sinn Féin team in Leinster House including as Children & Youth Affairs Spokesperson, Social Protection Spokesperson, Dublin Spokesperson{{Cite web |last= |title=Sinn Féin announces spokesperson reshuffle for 32nd Dáil |url=https://www.newstalk.com/news/sinn-fein-spokespeople-reshuffle-portfolio-tds-mary-lou-mcdonald-gerry-adams-louise-oreilly-eoin-o-broin-598297 |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=Newstalk |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Election 2020: Denise Mitchell (Sinn Féin) |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/election-2020-denise-mitchell-sinn-fein-1.4167438 |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=The Irish Times |language=en}} and has served as Sinn Féin's Deputy Whip in Leinster House since 2016.{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Aoife |date=2022-02-25 |title=Clare TD Violet-Anne Wynne felt 'ostracised' by local Sinn Féin before resignation |url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/politics/arid-40816914.html |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=Irish Examiner |language=en}}
Personal life
One of five children, Denise Mitchell was born in Sheriff Street before her family moved to Darndale where she grew up. Her father worked as a millhand while her mother was employed in the local Cadbury Ireland factory. Mitchell joined Sinn Féin in the early 1990s. She worked in a locally-based knitwear factory, Shamrock Apparel, where she served as a shop steward before also having careers with Motorola, Gateway 2000 and Brink's.{{cite book |last=Brennan |first=Michael |date=2019 |title= In Deep Water: How people, politics and protests sank Irish Water |publisher=Mercier Press |page=35|isbn=9781781176580}}
In 2014, she came to prominence as a local leader of the Right2Water movement protesting against the imposition of domestic water charges in Ireland, and during a rally in Ayrfield Community Centre she said it was important that no political party try to take over the movement.{{cite book |last=Brennan |first=Michael |date=2019 |title= In Deep Water: How people, politics and protests sank Irish Water |publisher=Mercier Press |page=36|isbn=9781781176580}}
She lives in Ayrfield, Coolock with her husband Alan and their six children.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://vote.sinnfein.ie/td/denise-mitchell/ Denise Mitchell's page on the Sinn Féin website]
- {{commons category-inline|Denise Mitchell}}
{{Current TDs}}
{{Dublin Bay North (Dáil constituency)/TDs}}
{{Sinn Féin}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Denise}}
Category:Alumni of Dublin Institute of Technology
Category:Members of Dublin City Council
Category:Members of the 32nd Dáil
Category:Members of the 33rd Dáil
Category:21st-century women Teachtaí Dála
Category:Politicians from County Dublin