Kathy Sinnott
| Kathy Sinnott | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Member of the European Parliament | |
|
In office June 2004 – June 2009 |
|
| Constituency | South |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Kathy Kelly 29 September 1950 Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Political party | Independent |
| Alma mater |
Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, University College Dublin |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Kathy Sinnott (née Kelly; born 29 September 1950) is a disability rights campaigner and a former politician. She represented the South constituency in Ireland in the European Parliament from 2004 to 2009.
She is secretary of the Hope Project, a charity that helps people with disabilities. Sinnott founded the Hope Project in 1996. She married Declan Sinnott when they were both aged twenty one, and had 9 children (3 daughters and 6 sons) together, they are now separated. In 2000, she took a court case to force the Irish government to provide a primary school education for her son Jamie who has multiple disabilities. In 2001, High Court ruled that every person in Ireland had a constitutional right to free appropriate primary education based on need. The judgement confirmed that this was a fundamental right which was not limited by the availability of resources. The government did not challenge the High Court decision for children 18 years and younger but successfully appealed its application to persons over 18 years of age to the Supreme Court.
She was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the South constituency at the 2004 European Parliament election. She campaigned on disability and education issues, euroscepticism and social conservatism.
She had stood previously at the 2002 general election for a seat in the Cork South–Central constituency, and narrowly losing the fifth and final seat to John Dennehy of Fianna Fáil. In the election count, she was initially ahead by 3 votes but lost by 6 votes after two recounts. She was an unsuccessful candidate at the subsequent Senate election in 2002 she had been nominated by 4 sitting Independent TDs, losing out by 3 votes to a Fine Gael Candidate. She required a high court judgement to allow her to run for the seanad on the Labour Panel.
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