Stiofán Mac Suibhne
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Stiofán Mac Suibhne | |
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| Taoiseach of Caldia | |
| Assumed office 27 February 2019 | |
| Monarch | Kenneth IV |
| Deputy | Séamus Ó Faoláin |
| Preceded by | Humphrey Dumfries |
| Leader of His Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition | |
| In office 19 June 2017 – 27 February 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Darragh Ballíck |
| Succeeded by | Pádraig Mac Piarais |
| Leader of the Social Democrats | |
| Assumed office 31 July 2017 | |
| Deputy | Gearóid MacMaster |
| Preceded by | Darragh Ballíck |
| Deputy Leader of the Social Democrats | |
| In office 28 June 2012 – 31 July 2017 | |
| Leader | Darragh Ballíck |
| Preceded by | Deirbhile Ní Ríain |
| Succeeded by | Gearóid MacMaster |
| List Teachta Comhthionól | |
| Assumed office 12 June 2017 | |
| Teachta Comhthionól for Scariff North | |
| In office 12 June 2007 – 12 June 2017 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Stiofán Aodghan Mac Suibhne 11 June 1959 Scariff, County Clane Caldia |
| Political party | Social Democratic Party |
| Spouse | Pádraigín Níc Dhòmhnaill |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | Shanbally Technical Institute |
Stiofán Aodghan Mac Suibhne (born 11 June 1959) is a Caldish Social Democratic politician who has served as Taoiseach since February 2019. He has led the Social Democratic Party since July 2017 and has been a Teachta Comhthionól (TC) since 2007, first representing the Scariff North constituency and later serving as a List TC.
He became deputy leader of the Social Democrats in June 2012. After the 2017 general election, he was chosen by the party's central committee to serve as leader and he lead the party in opposition. While in opposition, Mac Suibhne mended the damaged relationships between the Social Democrats and the trade unions. He was vocal critic of Frank Casarnach and called on him to resign in the wake of the big-rigging scandal. Mac Suibhne led the party into the 2019 snap election where the party gained 101 seats and received 48% of all votes cast. Mac Suibhne is the first Social Democratic Taoiseach since 2002 and the first to win an election since 1997.
An ironworker by trade, Mac Suibhne is the former president of the Association of Ironworkers and Miners, a powerful Caldish trade union. He has close ties to the Caldish labour movement.
Early life
Mac Suibhne was born on 11 June 1959 in Scariff, County Clane. His father Aodghan Mac Suibhne (1934 - 2006) was an iron miner that worked in the iron mines on the north Caldish coast and his mother Treasa Ní Bhraonáin (born 1938) was an in-home caregiver. He attended tertiary school in Scariff before attending Shanbally Technical Institute for a 48-week ironworking and welding course.
Afterwards, he started an apprenticeship as an ironworker in Shanbally. Mac Suibhne frequently worked in Spálgleann on new constructions that began in the 1980s. Soon after starting work, he became a union representative for his group. He held a succession of different positions within the union, the Association of Ironworkers and Miners. Eventually, he worked in contract negotiations and international affairs before being appointed as a vice-president in 1994. Throughout the union's tense relationship with Taoiseach Niamh Nic Uilliam, Mac Suibhne lobbied for the group to continue supporting the Social Democratic Party despite the unpopularity of Nic Uilliam's Third Way policies. He became the union's president in 1999, a post he held until 2007 when he was recruited to run in his native Scariff North constituency.
Political career
Mac Suibhne has been a member of the Social Democrats since the age of 14. Both his father and mother were members of the party and he was active in the party's youth-wing, the DSO. He was appointed to the party's central committee in 1999 after becoming president of his union.
He was recruited by the party to stand in the Scariff North constituency in the 2007 general election. He was elected and soon took on a prominent role in the party, as a former member of its central committee and leader of one of the strongest unions. Mac Suibhne was a member of the soft left faction of the party and advocated for a continued shift away from the Third Way position the party took up until 2002.
After the party only gained five seats in the 2012 general election, party leader Mícheál Ó Domhnaill resigned and Darragh Ballíck was selected as party leader by the central committee. Like Mac Suibhne, Ballíck was also a part of the soft left but lacked connections to the trade unions. Ballíck's supporters argued his middle class background would appeal to voters who had supported Alexis Walker in the 2007 and 2012 elections. Mac Suibhne was selected as deputy to maintain support of the working class and the unions.
During the 2017 general election, Ballíck's electoral alliance with the Greens annoyed many of the unions who were alarmed by the shift in the PSD's environmental policies. A series of gaffes during the campaign continued to isolate Ballíck from the unions. While Mac Suibhne was able to secure the continued support of many disgruntled unions, the Seaworker's Association and the Shipbuilder's Federation endorsed the Labour Party. In a joint statement, the unions accused Ballíck of isolating the working class in favor of environmentalist policies to appeal to urban liberals. The party lost 12 seats and Ballíck resigned a party leader and opposition leader. Mac Suibhne took over as acting opposition leader and was named as Ballíck's successor in July 2017.