Stephen Donnelly was born on 14 December 1975 and is an Irish Fianna Fail politician who has served as Minister for Health since June 2020.
17 Facts About Stephen Donnelly
2.
Stephen Donnelly has been a Teachta Dala for the Wicklow constituency since 2011.
3.
On his election to Dail Eireann, Donnelly first sat as an Independent deputy.
4.
Stephen Donnelly then co-founded the Social Democrats in 2015, becoming joint leader of the new party.
5.
Stephen Donnelly left the Social Democrats in 2016, and represented Wicklow as an independent before joining Fianna Fail in February 2017.
6.
Stephen Donnelly is a graduate of University College Dublin with a degree in mechanical engineering.
7.
Stephen Donnelly worked and studied in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
8.
Stephen Donnelly returned to work for McKinsey and Company, in Dublin, before deciding to run for office in 2011.
9.
Stephen Donnelly entered political life being elected as an Independent TD at the 2011 general election.
10.
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.
11.
Stephen Donnelly left the party on 5 September 2016, stating "some partnerships simply don't work".
12.
In February 2017, Stephen Donnelly announced that he was joining Fianna Fail.
13.
Stephen Donnelly initially said that he did not know where the host was quoting from - later stating: "I stand corrected".
14.
Stephen Donnelly was elected on the 15th count in the Wicklow constituency to the 33rd Dail in the 2020 general election, although he won fewer votes than when he stood with the Social Democrats three years prior.
15.
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.
16.
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.
17.
Stephen Donnelly had declared a south Dublin rental property on the Dail register of members' interests.