Lorraine Clifford-Lee

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Senator

Lorraine Clifford-Lee
Lorraine Clifford-Lee.jpg
Senator
Assumed office
29 June 2020
ConstituencyNominated by the Taoiseach
In office
27 April 2016 – 27 March 2020
ConstituencyCultural and Educational Panel
Personal details
Born
Lorraine Clifford

(1981-09-22) 22 September 1981 (age 39)
Waterford, Ireland
NationalityIrish
Political partyFianna Fáil
Spouse(s)John Lee (m. 2013)
Children2
Alma materUniversity College Cork

Lorraine Clifford-Lee (born 22 September 1981) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who has served as a Senator since June 2020, after being nominated by the Taoiseach, and previously from 2016 to 2020 for the Cultural and Educational Panel.[1][2]

Early and personal life[]

Clifford-Lee was born in Waterford in 1981. She studied at University College Cork. She lives in Donabate with her husband John Lee and her daughter and son.[3] Her husband is the political editor of the Irish Mail on Sunday newspaper. She is a self-employed solicitor and is a fluent Irish speaker.[4]

Political career[]

She was an unsuccessful candidate for the Dublin Fingal constituency at the 2016 general election. She polled 3,359 first preferences and was eliminated on the ninth count.[5]

On her election to the Seanad, she was appointed as the Fianna Fáil Seanad Spokesperson for Justice, Children and Youth Affairs. In November 2018, she was appointed Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Seanad.[citation needed]

Clifford-Lee was a candidate in the 2019 Dublin Fingal by-election to fill the seat vacated following Independents 4 Change's Clare Daly election to the European Parliament in May 2019. At the start of the campaign, Clifford-Lee was forced to apologise for several tweets from 2011, portraying negative and xenophobic attitudes towards travellers and Brazilians.[6] She refused calls to stand down as a candidate, claiming she was the victim of a smear campaign, while Fianna Fáil did not discipline her.[7] She received 18.5% of the first preference votes, coming second, and was eliminated on the final count.[8][9]

She was also an unsuccessful candidate for Dublin Fingal at the 2020 general election.[10][11] She lost her senate seat at the 2020 Seanad election, but was restored to Seanad Éireann by virtue of being nominated by the Taoiseach Micheál Martin, her party leader, in June 2020.[12]

References[]

  1. ^ "Lorraine Clifford-Lee". Oireachtas Members Database. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  2. ^ "Taoiseach Micheál Martin announces his 11 Seanad nominees". thejournal.ie. The Journal. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  3. ^ McConnell, Daniel (26 September 2015). "Lorraine Clifford Lee added to Fianna Fail ticket in Dublin Fingal". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 3 October 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  4. ^ "Election-2016 - Lorraine Clifford-Lee". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  5. ^ "Lorraine Clifford Lee". Electionsireland.org. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  6. ^ Feehan, Conor (11 November 2019). "Senator apologises for 'Traveller' and 'dwarf' tweets but claims she is victim of smear campaign". Irish Independent.
  7. ^ "'Very sincere and heartfelt apology': Fianna Fáil's Clifford-Lee has apologised to Traveller organisation for tweets". Journal. 15 November 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  8. ^ Kelly, Fiach (30 November 2019). "Dublin Fingal: Joe O'Brien wins Green Party's first ever byelection". Irish Times. Dublin. Archived from the original on 5 June 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  9. ^ "Dublin Fingal". Irish Times. Dublin. 30 November 2019. Archived from the original on 5 June 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  10. ^ Wall, Martin (10 February 2020) [9 February 2020]. "Dublin Fingal results: SF wave results in high-profile Fine Gael casualty". Irish Times. Dublin. Archived from the original on 6 June 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  11. ^ "Election 2020: Dublin Fingal". Irish Times. Dublin. 10 February 2020. Archived from the original on 6 June 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  12. ^ Kelly, Fiach; O'Halloran, Marie. "Nine of Taoiseach's 11 Seanad appointees are women". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 6 June 2021. Retrieved 28 June 2020.

External links[]

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