Liz McManus

Liz McManus is currently a TD for Wicklow. She first became involved in politics in 1979 when she was elected to Bray Urban District Council and later, she was elected to Wicklow County Council. McManus was first elected to Dáil Éireann in 1992. She was then a member of the Democratic Left party . She has retained her seat in every subsequent election. Between 1994 and 1997 the Democratic Left formed a government with Fine Gael and the Labour Party and McManus became Minister of State for Housing & Urban Renewal. During this period she was also a member of the Northern Ireland Forum for Peace & Reconciliation.

In 1999 the Democratic Left merged into the Labour Party.

In 2002 LizMcManus was elected the deputy leader of the Labour Party. Another former Democratic Left TD Pat Rabbitte, became leader of the party. Mc Manus is currently also the Labour Party Spokesperson for Health.

As well as being a politician McManus is an accomplished writer. She won the Hennessy, Listowel and Irish Pen awards in fiction. Her first novel "Acts of Subversion" was nominated for the Aer Lingus/Irish Times Literature Prize. McManus was also a weekly columnist with Sunday Tribune (1986-1992).