Background
Her father, Martin Ferris, is a Sinn Féin Teachta Dála (Territorial Decoration) for Kerry N.
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Toireasa Ferris
Edit ProfileEducation
University of Limerick. Queen"s University Belfast.
Career
In 2005, she became the first female Mayor of Kerry, after earlier becoming the first Sinn Féin Cathaoirleach (Chairperson) of Kerry County Council in 2003. Company-opted in 2003 to the seat held by her father, Martin Ferris, she was elected to the Kerry County Council in 2004, taking the first of 7 seats. She served as Mayor of Kerry County Council from 2005 to 2006.
At present, Ferris serves as a Sinn Féin Councillor on Kerry County Council and Tralee Town Council.
On 18 October 2008 she was selected as a candidate in the European Parliament election in 2009 for the South constituency. She received 64,671 of the first preference vote coming third in terms of first preferences but was not elected.
In an article in the weekly newspaper An Phoblacht she gave an analysis of the current direction of the party saying that the party "means nothing" to the bulk of people in the Republic and that there was a perception amongst voters that Sinn Féin was a northern-based party. In March 2009, she was voted the 7th most beautiful politician in the world by Spain"s 20 Minutos newspaper.
In the 2014 local elections, Ferris received 2679 first preference votes with the quota of 1599, therefore she was elected on the first count and topped the poll in the Tralee Local Electoral Area.
In February 2006, she appeared on The Late Late Show and in an interview with Pat Kenny said she could not condemn the killing of Garda Jerry McCabe in 1996. Ferris stated that "lieutenant wouldn’t be fair to condemn one individual action when over 3,000 were killed. I don’t feel I have the right, or that it would be fair to condemn one individual acting" also caused comment because her "knee-length" skirt hiked up when she crossed her legs.
RTÉ was sharply criticised for having their cameras pan her legs and skirt in the middle of the interview and creating a "tabloid" atmosphere and cheapening her appearance.
However she survived by a wide margin due to the support of Fianna Fáil councillors.
Politics
Ferris started her political activism with the party youth wing Ógra Shinn Féin in her native Tralee and in the University of Limerick. Fine Gael councillors in Kerry County Council attempted to table a vote of no confidence.
