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Mary Butler (politician)

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Mary Butler
TD
Butler in 2024
Minister of State
2020–Health
Chair of the Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation
In office
4 April 2016 – 1 July 2020
Preceded byDamien English
Succeeded byMaurice Quinlivan
Teachta Dála
Incumbent
Assumed office
February 2016
ConstituencyWaterford
Personal details
Born (1966-09-29) 29 September 1966 (age 58)
Waterford, Ireland
Political partyFianna Fáil
Spouse
Michael Butler
​
(m. 1988)​
Children3
Alma materWaterford Institute of Technology
Bulter's constituency office in Waterford

Mary Butler (born 29 September 1966) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who has served as a Minister of State since July 2020. She has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Waterford constituency since 2016. She previously served as chair of the Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation from 2016 to 2020.[1][2]

Political career

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She was the Fianna Fáil junior Spokesperson for Older People and Chair of Oireachtas Cross Party group on Dementia. She had been a member of Waterford City and County Council from 2014 to 2016, before her election to the Dáil in 2016.[3]

Butler was opposed to the legalisation of abortion in Ireland. She called for a No vote in the 2018 referendum on abortion, and co-organised an event calling for a No vote.[4]

Butler put forward a bill in 2018 with the aim of banning tattoos and intimate piercings for people under the age of eighteen; this bill lapsed with the dissolution of the Dáil.[5][6]

In 2020, she was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Health with responsibility for Mental Health and Older People.[7][8]

Canvassing controversy

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Former Fianna Fáil TD Brendan Kenneally canvassed for Butler during the 2016 general election campaign, at which she was first elected to the Dáil.[9] Bill Kenneally, a cousin of Kenneally's, was convicted of 1980s sexual abuse of boys, and Kenneally had previously acknowledged that he had been aware of his cousin's crimes before his sentencing to 14 years imprisonment.[10] Butler received criticism for Kenneally's involvement in her 2016 campaign.[9] However, four years later, she again had Keneally canvass for her ahead of the 2020 general election.[9] Kenneally's canvassing for Mary Butler in 2020 became public knowledge when it emerged that he had visited the homes of some of those who had been abused to seek their votes.[9]

It also emerged that Butler was renting her constituency office from Kenneally, and when it did so, she stated in an interview that she would move elsewhere and did so in early 2020.[9]

At the 2024 general election, Butler was re-elected to the Dáil.

Personal life

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Butler is married to Michael, and they have three children.[11] She survived a skin cancer scare in 2022.[12]

References

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  1. ^ "Mary Butler". Oireachtas Members Database. Archived from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  2. ^ "Election 2016: Mary Butler". RTÉ. 27 February 2016. Archived from the original on 1 March 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  3. ^ "Mary Butler". ElectionsIreland.org. Archived from the original on 25 February 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  4. ^ "Cross-party group of politicians calls for No vote in referendum". The Irish Times. 16 May 2018. Archived from the original on 7 June 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  5. ^ McMorrow, Conor (15 November 2018). "Bill would ban intimate piercings for under 18s". RTÉ. Archived from the original on 4 November 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  6. ^ "Regulation of Intimate Piercing and Tattooing Bill 2018 – No. 125 of 2018". Houses of the Oireachtas. 15 November 2018. Archived from the original on 6 November 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  7. ^ "Appointment of Ministers of State" (PDF). Iris Oifigiúil. 2020 (57): 820–821. 17 July 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 November 2021. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  8. ^ Health (Delegation of Ministerial Functions) Order 2020 (S.I. No. 394 of 2020). Signed on 22 September 2020. Statutory Instrument of the Government of Ireland. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book on 15 October 2020.
  9. ^ a b c d e Parker, Christy (26 February 2020). "Mary Butler apologises for 'huge error of judgment'". Irish Examiner. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  10. ^ Tiernan, Damien (25 September 2016). "Former TD 'was told cousin abused boys but he said nothing'". Sunday Independent. Archived from the original on 27 February 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  11. ^ Cullen, Paul. "Profile: Mary Butler (FF)". The Irish Times. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  12. ^ "Mary Butler earned the title of designated survivor on St Patrick's Day after brush with skin cancer". The Irish Times. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
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