Matt Carthy | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Carthy in 2025 | |
| Teachta Dála | |
| Assumed office February 2020 | |
| Constituency | Cavan–Monaghan |
| Member of the European Parliament | |
| In office 1 July 2014 – 9 February 2020 | |
| Constituency | Midlands–North-West |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Matthew Carthy (1977-07-19)19 July 1977 (age 48) Birmingham, England |
| Political party | Sinn Féin |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 5 |
| Education | Inver College, Carrickmacross |
| Alma mater | Dublin Institute of Technology |
| Website | mattcarthy |
Matthew Carthy (born 19 July 1977)[1] is an IrishSinn Féin politician who has been aTeachta Dála (TD) for theCavan–Monaghan constituency since the2020 general election.[2] He previously served as aMember of the European Parliament (MEP) for theMidlands–North-West constituency from 2014 to 2020.[3]
Carthy was born inBirmingham,England, in 1977. His mother is fromCounty Monaghan and his father fromCounty Roscommon. The family moved to County Roscommon when Carthy was aged two, where he lived until he was 10. His family then spent a year living inHolywell in north-eastWales before returning to Ireland to live inCarrickmacross, County Monaghan.
He has described the experience of living on the Irish border during the conflict as playing a formative role in shaping his republican political views, and cites hunger strikersBobby Sands andKieran Doherty as major influences.[4]
Carthy studied marketing for a year at theDublin Institute of Technology, where he formed a Sinn Féin college cumann (branch) in 1996. Carthy was a founding member ofÓgra Shinn Féin (a Sinn Féin youth organisation) the following year. He worked as a full-time youth organiser for Ógra inDublin in Sinn Féin's party headquarters, and as a press officer for Sinn Féin.
Carthy lives inCarrickmacross, County Monaghan, with wife Lynn and their five children.
He was elected as the first Sinn Féin member of Carrickmacross Town Council in County Monaghan in 1999, becoming the youngest elected representative in the country (21 years old) at the time.
In June 2006, Carthy was elected as the first Sinn Féin Mayor of Carrickmacross Town Council. He was a member ofMonaghan County Council from 2004 to 2014, and was elected mayor of Monaghan County Council in 2008.[5]
At the2014 European Parliament election, Carthy won 17.7% of first-preference votes. He took the third of four seats in theMidlands–North-West constituency. FormerProvisional IRA memberThomas McMahon, who was convicted of the murder ofLord Louis Mountbatten and three others off the coast of Mullaghmore, County Sligo, in 1979, canvassed for Carthy in the elections.[6]
In theEuropean Parliament Carthy is a member of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee (AGRI) and the Special Committee on Financial Crimes, Tax Evasion and Tax Avoidance (TAX3). He is a substitute member of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) and Transport and Tourism Committee (TRAN). He was a full member of the Panama Papers Committee of Inquiry for its duration from 2016 to 2017.
In 2015, he was appointed as Sinn Féin's Uniting Ireland project coordinator. He has been party whip in the European Parliament since 2014 and has been a member of the Ard Chomhairle (national executive) at regular intervals since 1998. He was the Sinn Féin Director of Elections for the2016 general election.
On 26 April 2018, Carthy was selected to run as the Sinn Féin candidate for theCavan–Monaghan constituency at the2020 general election, following the announcement by sitting Sinn Féin TDCaoimhghín Ó Caoláin that he would not be contesting the next election. Carthy was elected on the first count.Sligo County CouncillorChris MacManus was nominated to fill Carthy's seat in theEuropean Parliament following his election to the Dáil.
At the2024 general election, Carthy was re-elected to the Dáil. He was subsequently appointed Cathaoirleach of the Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration.[7]