1. Marc MacSharry resigned from Fianna Fail's parliamentary party in September 2021, alleging double standards.
21 Facts About Marc MacSharry
1. 2.
Marc MacSharry resigned his Fianna Fail membership in November 2022, amid claims he had bullied colleagues.
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Marc MacSharry marketed and exported meat products throughout the world with Celtic Foods Ltd from 1995 to 2000 and provided consultancy to other meat export firms from 2000 to 2002.
4.
Marc MacSharry ran his own estate agency and property solutions provider from 2006 to 2017.
5.
Marc MacSharry was re-elected in 2007 and was appointed Seanad spokesperson on Finance.
6.
On 31 January 2011, prior to that year's general election, Marc MacSharry was appointed to the Fianna Fail frontbench by the new party leader Micheal Martin, as spokesperson on Tourism and Arts.
7.
Marc MacSharry was re-elected to the Seanad in April 2011 and was appointed Fianna Fail Seanad spokesperson on Health.
8.
Marc MacSharry introduced the Family Home Bill 2011 in July 2011 in the Seanad, which would effectively have prevented the granting of an order for the repossession of a primary family residence except in very exceptional circumstances where borrowers were in difficulty due exclusively to willful neglect.
9.
In 2012, collaborating with Seanad colleague and professor of oncology at St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin, John Crown, Marc MacSharry introduced the Access to Cancer Treatment Bill to the Seanad which sought to simplify the approval process to ensure early access for patients to avail of expensive breakthrough cancer drugs.
10.
In 2020, Marc MacSharry was re-elected in the same constituency, albeit with a reduced share of 7,004 votes, being elected on the final count over his Fianna Fail running mate Eamon Scanlon.
11.
Marc MacSharry criticised Failte Ireland and his Fianna Fail colleague at the time Stephen Donnelly on the public health guidelines they had issued regarding the opening of pubs and restaurants across Ireland, comparing them to the East German intelligence agency the Stasi.
12.
In January 2021, Marc MacSharry attracted further controversy for his comments made during a Fianna Fail parliamentary party meeting, in which he said that "if the Ku Klux Klan were selling a COVID-19 vaccine, Ireland should buy it".
13.
Marc MacSharry first called on Martin to resign in June 2021 after it had emerged Fianna Fail had used covertly polled voters while pretending to be independent pollsters.
14.
In July 2021, Marc MacSharry again called on Martin to resign after Fianna Fail's poor performance in the 2021 Dublin Bay South by-election, in which Fianna Fail's candidate Deidre Conroy received under 5 percent of the vote.
15.
Marc MacSharry published a paper, Now More Than Ever in July 2021 on the impact of COVID-19 related restrictions on the mental health of society suggesting no further lockdowns should be considered.
16.
On 15 September 2021, Marc MacSharry resigned from the Fianna Fail parliamentary party in order to vote against Simon Coveney of Fine Gael in a motion of no confidence resulting from the Katherine Zappone controversy.
17.
On 2 November 2022, Marc MacSharry was prevented from rejoining Fianna Fail following a row over the handling of a bullying complaint against him.
18.
On 18 October 2023, Marc MacSharry announced that he would not contest the next general election.
19.
Marc MacSharry was married to Marie Murphy from 2003 to 2016, when they separated.
20.
Marc MacSharry has three children and lives in Strandhill, County Sligo.
21.
Marc MacSharry was an amateur actor appearing in several stage productions, winning the All-Ireland One-Act Drama Championship in 1997 and performing at a world drama festival in Monte Carlo with the Carlow Little Theatre Festival in August of that year.