South Antrim - Mitchell McLaughlin
Mitchel McLaughlin lives in the Bogside area of Derry City with his wife Mary-Lou and they have three sons.
A member of the Party's Ard Chomhairle (National Executive), Mitchel is
Sinn Fein's General Secretary. In this role he plays a major role in
overseeing the political development of the party.
Mitchel became politically active in the Civil Rights Association
in 1968. He was also a leading member of the National H-Blocks
Committee (a committee organised to campaign around the prison protests
of the late 70's and early 80's).
He has played a central role in formulating Sinn Fein's current
peace strategy and was instrumental in the drawing up of our two peace
documents, Scenario for Peace (1989) and Towards a Lasting Peace in
Ireland (1992). He is one of Sinn Fein's main spokespersons on the
peace process and travels widely to speak on behalf of the party.
He was elected to Derry City Council in 1985 and as an Assembly
member for Foyle in the 1998 and 2003 elections. He was a member of the
Assembly's Environment Committee and is party spokesperson on the
Environment. He polled 119,384 votes in the June 1999 European Union
elections.