Sorca Clarke | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Clarke in 2022 | |
| Teachta Dála | |
| Assumed office February 2020 | |
| Constituency | Longford–Westmeath |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1978/1979 (age 46–47)[1] Dublin, Ireland |
| Political party | Sinn Féin |
| Spouse | Darren Caulfield |
| Children | 4 |
Sorca Clarke (born 1978/1979) is an IrishSinn Féin politician who has been aTeachta Dála (TD) for theLongford–Westmeath constituency since the2020 general election.[2] She was elected on the first count and is the first Sinn Féin TD to serve the constituency sinceRuairí Ó Brádaigh in 1957.[3]
Clarke joined Sinn Féin in 2004[4] and first ran for office in 2009 when she unsuccessfully stood in the2009 Irish local elections for Mullingar West inCounty Westmeath.[5] She succeeded in her next attempt and became a member ofWestmeath County Council at the2014 local elections.[5] She lost her seat on the council in the2019 elections, placing just9th out of 14 candidates, but became a TD in 2020 as part of Sinn Féin's surge that year, topping the poll in her constituency.[6]
Clarke is fromArtane, Dublin. She moved toMullingar with her husband, Darren Caulfield, in 2005 where they run a security business together[4][7] They have four children, including one with autism.
Clarke's grandfather was a member of theIrish Republican Army and was interned in theCurragh Camp for membership of a proscribed organisation. In his later years, he joinedSinn Féin the Workers' Party following the 1969 split.[4]