Martin Browne (politician)

Martin Browne (born 1965/1966) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Tipperary constituency since the 2020 general election.[3] Browne is the Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Public Petitions.[4] A native of Cashel, he was elected as a member of Tipperary County Council in 2014 for the Cashel—Tipperary local electoral area, serving for 5 years before losing his seat.[5]

Martin Browne
TD
Browne in 2020
Teachta Dála
Assumed office
February 2020
ConstituencyTipperary
Tipperary County Councillor
In office
23 May 2014 – 24 May 2019
ConstituencyCashel–Tipperary
Personal details
Born1965 or 1966 (age 57–58)[1]
NationalityIrish
Political partySinn Féin
SpouseHelen Browne[2]
Children4

Political career
Constituency office, Cashel

Browne was first elected to a political position in the 2014 Tipperary County Council election, finishing in second place in the Cashel-Tipperary municipal district with 11% of the first preference vote. He lost that seat at the 2019 Tipperary council election, dropping to eighth place and losing his seat to another Sinn Féin candidate, Tony Black.

At the 2020 Irish general election Browne became a Teachta Dála for Tipperary in an election in which Sinn Féin performed much better than previously expected.

In December 2020, Browne received political backlash after social media posts made during his time as a county councillor received national attention. Browne has previously used his social media to share a conspiracy theory that the September 11th attacks had been staged using holograms, as well as sharing a post in which Fidel Castro compared NATO to the Nazi SS and accused the USA and Israel of "creating" ISIS and another post in which he questioned reports that Syrian president Bashar al-Assad had used chemical weapons on his own people. Browne issued an apology for the posts, saying he should never have shared them and that they "did not reflect his views".[6][7]

In July 2021 Browne faced criticism after he refused to condemn the 1996 killing of Garda Detective Jerry McCabe by members of the Provisional IRA, despite the fact that Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald unequivocally condemned it days previously.[8][9]

Personal life

He is married to Helen, and they have four children and six grandchildren.[10] His brother Michael was Mayor of Cashel, and met with Elizabeth II on her visit to Ireland in 2011.[11]

References
  1. Carswell, Simon; Keena, Colm (13 February 2020). "Younger voters consider IRA past to be 'history', say new Sinn Féin TDs". Irish Times. Archived from the original on 8 June 2023. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
  2. O'Halloran, Marie. "Martin Browne (Sinn Féin)". The Irish Times.
  3. "Martin Browne". Oireachtas Members Database. Archived from the original on 15 February 2020. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  4. "Committee on Public Petitions – 33rd Dáil, 26th Seanad – Houses of the Oireachtas". 25 May 2021. Archived from the original on 6 November 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  5. "Sinn Féin selects Martin Browne to contest next general election in Tipperary". www.tipperarylive.ie.
  6. O'Connell, Hugh (10 December 2020). "Sinn Féin TD apologises for old Facebook posts linking to 9/11 conspiracy theories and comparing NATO to Nazis". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021.
  7. Hutton, Brian (10 December 2020). "Sinn Féin TD apologises for sharing conspiracy theory Facebook posts". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 15 December 2020.
  8. Ryan, Philip (2 July 2021). "Sinn Féin TD refuses to support Mary Lou McDonald's condemnation of garda killers". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021.
  9. Lord, Miriam (3 July 2021). "Miriam Lord: Sinn Féin condemned to linguistic knots over Jerry McCabe". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 3 July 2021.
  10. "Martin Browne TD". www.sinnfein.ie. Archived from the original on 9 February 2020. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  11. "SF mayor takes the hand of royalty". independent. Archived from the original on 11 December 2020. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
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