Lorraine Clifford-Lee
Lorraine Clifford-Lee is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as a Senator for the Cultural and Educational Panel from April 2016 to April 2020. She was re-appointed to the Seanad in June 2020, after being nominated by the Taoiseach.
Originally from Waterford, she was an unsuccessful candidate for the Dublin Fingal constituency at the 2016 general election. She polled 3,359 first preferences and was eliminated on the ninth count.
She lives in Donabate with her husband John Lee and her daughter and son. Her husband is the political editor of the Irish Mail on Sunday newspaper. She is a self-employed solicitor and is a fluent Irish speaker. On her election to the Seanad she was appointed as the Fianna Fáil Seanad spokesperson for Justice, Children and Youth Affairs. In November 2018 she was appointed Deputy Leader of the opposition in the Seanad.
Clifford-Lee is a candidate in the 29 November 2019 by-election in Dublin Fingal to fill the seat vacated following Independents 4 Change's Clare Daly election as a Member of the European Parliament in May 2019.
At the start of the 2019 Dublin Fingal by-election campaign, Clifford-Lee was forced to apologise for several tweets from 2011, portraying negative and racist attitudes towards travellers and Brazilians. She has refused calls to stand down as a candidate, claiming she is the victim of a smear campaign, while Fianna Fáil did not discipline her. She received 18.5% of the first preference votes, coming second, and was eliminated on the final count. She was also an unsuccessful candidate for Dublin Fingal at the 2020 general election. She lost her senate seat at the 2020 Seanad election, but was restored to Seanad Eireann by virtue of being nominated by the Taoiseach Micheál Martin, her party leader, in June 2020.
