Conor Murphy

Biography:

Conor Murphy was re-elected MP for Newry and Armagh in May 2010 with a majority of 8,331.

In 1998, Murphy was first elected as a Sinn Féin candidate to the Northern Ireland Assembly and has been reelected in 2003 and March 2007. In 2005, Murphy was elected as Member of the (British) Parliament for the Newry and Armagh (UK Parliament constituency) in Northern Ireland. Murphy refuses to take his seat in the British House of Commons in line with the abstentionist policy of Sinn Féin.

Murphy lives in Camlough, County Armagh and was educated at St. Colman’s College, Newry and at the Queen’s University of Belfast (QUB), and the University of Ulster.

According to An Phoblacht, Murphy first became involved with the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the 1981 hunger strikes. In 1982 he was sentenced to five years in prison for IRA membership and possession of explosives.

Between 1989 and 1997, he was a Sinn Féin councillor on Newry and Mourne District Council for The Fews area, also in South Armagh, and served as his party’s group leader at that level.

In 1998, Murphy was elected as one of his party’s two Northern Ireland Assembly members for Newry and Armagh and in 2001, he contested the Westminster seat, coming second to Seamus Mallon (Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP)). He was re-elected, with two party colleagues, to the Assembly in 2003. When Mallon decided not to contest the seat again, Murphy became the clear favourite to win and was elected MP on 5 May 2005.

Constituency: Newry and Armagh

Constituency Address: Main Street, Camlough, Newry, County Down

Date of Birth: July 10, 1963

Party: Sinn Fein

Personal Website: http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/14975