1. Stephen Donnelly was born on 14 December 1975 and is an Irish Fianna Fail politician who served as Minister for Health from June 2020 to January 2025.
20 Facts About Stephen Donnelly
1. 2.
Stephen Donnelly was a Teachta Dala for the Wicklow constituency from 2011 to 2024.
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On his election to Dail Eireann, Donnelly first sat as an independent deputy.
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Stephen Donnelly then co-founded the Social Democrats in 2015, becoming joint leader of that new party.
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Stephen Donnelly left the Social Democrats in 2016, and represented Wicklow as an independent before joining Fianna Fail in February 2017.
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Stephen Donnelly grew up in Dundrum, Dublin and later moved to Delgany.
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Stephen Donnelly graduated from University College Dublin in 1997 with a degree in mechanical engineering.
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Stephen Donnelly worked and studied in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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Stephen Donnelly returned to work for McKinsey and Company, in Dublin, before deciding to run for office in 2011.
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Stephen Donnelly entered political life being elected as an independent TD at the 2011 general election.
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On 15 July 2015, Stephen Donnelly launched the Social Democrats, becoming co-leader along with former Labour Party TD Roisin Shortall and former Independent TD Catherine Murphy.
12.
Stephen Donnelly left the party on 5 September 2016, stating "some partnerships simply don't work".
13.
In February 2017, Stephen Donnelly announced that he was joining Fianna Fail.
14.
Stephen Donnelly was elected on the 15th count in the Wicklow constituency to the 33rd Dail in the 2020 general election, with fewer votes than when he stood for the Social Democrats in 2016.
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Stephen Donnelly's tenure resulted in several gaffes, most notably when he compared the danger to children from returning to schools during the pandemic to that of jumping on trampolines.
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Stephen Donnelly has been criticised for not being on top of his brief, for floating ideas in the media such as a mooted third change in several weeks to Ireland's vaccine rollout plan, and during the height of lockdown, querying why his department's officials weren't retweeting his tweets.
17.
On 31 August 2022, Stephen Donnelly admitted that he failed to register a rental property in Dublin for three years with the Residential Tenancies Board, and only did so after it emerged Fianna Fail TD Robert Troy had registered a property late.
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Stephen Donnelly had declared a south Dublin rental property on the Dail register of members' interests.
19.
Stephen Donnelly stood in the 2024 general election and was not re-elected.
20.
Stephen Donnelly was one of two government ministers to lose their seats in the election.