1. Matthew McGrath was born on 1 September 1958 and is an Irish independent politician and a Teachta Dala for the Tipperary South constituency since the 2024 general election, and previously from 2007 to 2016.
42 Facts About Mattie McGrath
1. 2.
Mattie McGrath was a TD for the Tipperary constituency from 2016 to 2024.
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Mattie McGrath was first elected as a Fianna Fail TD but he left the party in 2011 before the general election, and has contested elections as an independent candidate since.
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Mattie McGrath was educated at St Joseph's College, Cahir; Kildalton Agricultural College, County Kilkenny and University College Cork.
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Mattie McGrath was a Fianna Fail member of South Tipperary County Council from 1999 to 2007 and served as chairperson of the council from 2004 to 2005.
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Mattie McGrath was first elected to the Dail at the 2007 general election as a Fianna Fail TD for Tipperary South.
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Mattie McGrath was found not guilty of the assault of a teenager in south Tipperary following a trial in 2008.
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Mattie McGrath made a complaint to the Garda Ombudsman's office in relation to the handling of the investigation.
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In October 2009, Mattie McGrath criticised the proposal by Noel Dempsey to lower the legal level of alcohol in drivers, claiming that for some people a small amount of alcohol made them less nervous behind the wheel, though he said he didn't condone drunk driving.
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Mattie McGrath's comments were criticised by Road Safety Authority chairman Gay Byrne and the Automobile Association.
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In June 2010, Mattie McGrath accused Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government John Gormley of the Green Party of bullying Fianna Fail over the bill to ban stag hunting, which was passed in the Dail on 29 June 2010.
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Mattie McGrath voted against the bill and lost the Fianna Fail parliamentary party whip as a result.
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Mattie McGrath explained he was independent minded and would not be silenced by anybody.
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On 25 January 2011, Mattie McGrath announced that he was leaving the Fianna Fail party and would contest the 2011 general election as an Independent candidate.
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Mattie McGrath denied that he was cynically resigning from the party in an attempt to save his own Dail seat, saying that he had run out of "final straws" with Fianna Fail.
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Mattie McGrath said that widespread unemployment, pay cuts, negative equity, the recent price hike at health insurer VHI and the recent leadership debacle had forced his hand.
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Mattie McGrath was a member of the Rural Independents Technical group in the Dail.
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In 2015, Mattie McGrath was accused of plagiarising a speech he gave in the Dail on ISIS from a resolution put forward by American Congressman Jeff Fortenberry.
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Mattie McGrath was re-elected in the newly formed Tipperary constituency in 2016, receiving 11,237 first preference votes.
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Mattie McGrath was again re-elected in 2020, with 9,321 first preference votes.
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At the 2024 general election, Mattie McGrath was re-elected to the Dail.
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Mattie McGrath was critical of the decision, describing it as "anti-democratic and totally wrong".
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Mattie McGrath is opposed to same-sex marriage, and was the only TD to speak against it in the Irish same-sex marriage referendum when it was debated in the Dail.
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Mattie McGrath supported the "No" side in the 2018 abortion referendum.
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Mattie McGrath has met the Pope in the Vatican on numerous occasions, including one day prior to the 2018 visit by Pope Francis to Ireland for the World Meeting of Families.
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Mattie McGrath opposed a minute of silence being held in the Dail after the murder of George Floyd, saying that it was "none of our business" and calling it "showboating nonsense".
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Mattie McGrath has attracted criticism from various politicians and from the Auschwitz Museum for his comments on COVID-19 and perceived sensationalist remarks by drawing comparisons between life in Nazi Germany and COVID-19 restrictions in Ireland.
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Mattie McGrath has referred to the pandemic as a "scamdemic" and has opposed public health lockdowns, declaring that "this wouldn't happen under Hitler".
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Mattie McGrath has said that he will not be receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.
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Mattie McGrath accused the Taoiseach of making an "apartheid" decision by not allowing indoor dining, for which the Taoiseach accused him of holding a Trumpian view in denying the existence of the pandemic.
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Mattie McGrath was criticised by the Auschwitz Museum for these remarks, with the museum inviting him to read about the Holocaust and describing his remarks as "a sad symptom of moral and intellectual decline".
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Mattie McGrath was criticised by Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore for his comments.
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Mattie McGrath doubled down and told the Irish Examiner reporter Aoife Moore "There are huge correlations, it's exactly the same if you want to study it, exactly the same"; an editorial in the paper called Mattie McGrath an "Intolerable idiot".
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Mattie McGrath compared the extension of COVID emergency powers to apartheid on the 5 October 2021.
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Mattie McGrath was criticised by Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney TD and Paul Murphy TD, with Murphy calling the remarks "non-acceptable".
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In October 2020, Mattie McGrath made comments at a media briefing, asking where Ireland's Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan "had been in the last few months", during which Holohan had been caring for his wife Emer, who had terminal cancer and was receiving palliative care.
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Mattie McGrath's remarks were branded as "shameful" by Fine Gael's Ciaran Cannon, who demanded he withdraw and apologise for his remarks.
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Mattie McGrath withdrew these remarks and offered his apologies for them.
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In June 2022, Mattie McGrath was criticised for saying on Today with Claire Byrne that he would like a cap on the number of refugees.
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In December 2022, Mattie McGrath was accused of spreading far-right rhetoric in the Dail by Tanaiste Micheal Martin.
41.
On 9 May 2024 during a debate on special education Mattie McGrath said there "must be a need for understanding the explosion of autism".
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Mattie McGrath claimed that his brother, who had worked as a paediatrician in Africa in the 1990s had not heard the word until he returned to Ireland.