Lorraine Clifford-Lee

Lorraine Clifford-Lee (born 22 September 1981) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who has served as a Senator since June 2020.

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

(1981-09-22) 22 September 1981
Waterford, Ireland
Political partyFianna Fáil
SpouseJohn Lee (m. 2013)
Children2
Alma materUniversity College Cork

She was nominated by the Taoiseach to become a Senator in June 2020, having previously been selected from the 2016 to 2020 Cultural and Educational Panel.[1][2]

Early and personal life

Clifford-Lee was born in Waterford in 1981. She attended Our Lady of Mercy in Waterford and later studied at University College Cork where she became the Irish Officer on the Students Union.[3]

She lives in Donabate with her husband John Lee and her daughter and son.[4] Her husband, who is 10 years her senior, is the political editor of the Irish Mail on Sunday newspaper.[5]

She is a self-employed solicitor and is a fluent Irish speaker.[6][7]

Political career

2016 general election

After Clifford-Lee unsuccessfully contested a local election for a seat in the Pembroke-South Dock ward of Dublin City Council in 2015, she was selected, along with Darragh O'Brien, to be one of two Fianna Fáil candidates for the Dublin Fingal constituency in the 2016 general election. Clifford-Lee was selected to run in Dublin Fingal to ensure Fianna Fáil complied with gender quota rules.[8][9]

The decision to add Clifford-Lee to the ticket was criticised by party insiders as tokenism and gratuitous. Darragh Butler, a long-time local Fianna Fáil councillor, stating "due to gender quotas we are being overlooked in favour of a candidate who has no track record, no history and up to now, no visibility in the constituency."[10]

In the lead up to the election Clifford-Lee claimed that members of her team were intimidated by supporters of her running mate Darragh O'Brien while they were canvassing in Portmarnock. O'Brien denied knowledge of this but said that tempers can get a little frayed so close to polling day.

She was an unsuccessful candidate for the Dublin Fingal constituency polling 3,359 (5.6%) of first preferences and was eliminated on the ninth count, while her running mate Darragh O'Brien was elected on the first count, topping the poll.[11]

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.[12]

2019 by-election

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.[13]

Racist tweets scandal

At the start of the campaign, multiple tweets emerged where Clifford-Lee appeared to make derogatory and xenophobic comments portraying negative and xenophobic attitudes towards foreigners,[14] Irish Travellers as well as ableist and body shaming tweets about females.[15]

She was forced to apologise the tweets from 2011.[16] 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.[17]

By-election result

There was a record low turn out for the constituency of 25.59% and the seat was won by the Green Party. Clifford-Lee received 18.5% of the first preference votes, coming second, and was eliminated on the final count.[18][19]

2020 general election

She was also an unsuccessful candidate for Dublin Fingal at the 2020 general election.[20][21] She lost her seat at the 2020 Seanad election, but was restored to Seanad Éireann after being nominated by the Taoiseach Micheál Martin, her party leader, in June 2020.[22]

References
  1. "Lorraine Clifford-Lee". Oireachtas Members Database. Archived from the original on 20 July 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  2. "Taoiseach Micheál Martin announces his 11 Seanad nominees". thejournal.ie. The Journal. 27 June 2020. Archived from the original on 5 June 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  3. "Quality Assurance Academic Year 2002/2003" (PDF). UCC.ie. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  4. 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.
  5. "Fianna Fail's Lorraine Clifford-Lee was 'shell-shocked' when husband proposed". Irish Mirror. 24 August 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  6. "Election-2016 - Lorraine Clifford-Lee". TheJournal.ie. Archived from the original on 15 June 2018. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  7. "Fianna Fail's Lorraine Clifford-Lee was 'shell-shocked' when husband proposed". Irish Mirror. 24 August 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  8. "Fianna Fáil female candidate claims intimidation by FF supporters". Irish Times. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  9. "Fianna Fáil adds Lorraine Clifford Lee to Dublin Fingal ticket". Irish Times. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  10. "'Decision By Fianna Fáil Perverse' – Butler". North County Leader. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  11. "Lorraine Clifford Lee". Electionsireland.org. Archived from the original on 15 June 2018. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  12. "Fianna Fail's Lorraine Clifford-Lee was 'shell-shocked' when husband proposed". Irish Mirror. 24 August 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  13. "Dublin Fingal by-election: Race was Clifford-Lee's to lose - she'll rue Twitter storm if she doesn't win". Irish Independent. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  14. "Lorraine Clifford-Lee criticised for 'racist comments' about Travellers". Irish Examiner. 15 November 2019. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  15. "'It was used as a weapon': Calls for Lorraine Clifford-Lee to apologise to Travellers over comments". Irish Examiner. 15 November 2019. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  16. Feehan, Conor (11 November 2019). "Senator apologises for 'Traveller' and 'dwarf' tweets but claims she is victim of smear campaign". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 11 November 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
  17. "'Very sincere and heartfelt apology': Fianna Fáil's Clifford-Lee has apologised to Traveller organisation for tweets". Journal. 15 November 2019. Archived from the original on 15 November 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  18. 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.
  19. "Dublin Fingal". Irish Times. Dublin. 30 November 2019. Archived from the original on 5 June 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  20. 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.
  21. "Election 2020: Dublin Fingal". Irish Times. Dublin. 10 February 2020. Archived from the original on 6 June 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  22. 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.
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