A well-known community activist locally, Mitchell is described as being close to Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald.[5] In 2016, she listed the campaign calling to Repeal the 8th amendment as a priority for her if elected to the Dáil.[6]
In the 2016 general election, she took the fourth of five seats in the newly-created Dublin Bay North constituency.
In the 2020 general election, she received the single highest vote of any candidate in the State, securing 21,344 first-preference votes and being elected on the first count.[7][8][9]
Personal life
She is originally from Darndale. Mitchell joined Sinn Féin in the early 1990s. She worked in a locally-based knitwear factory, Shamrock Apparel, before also having careers with Motorola, Gateway 2000 and Brink's.[10]
In 2014, she came to prominence as a local leader of the Right2Water movement protesting against the imposition of domestic water charges in Ireland, and during a rally in Ayrfield Community Centre she said it was important that no political party try to take over the movement.[11]
She lives in Ayrfield, Coolock with her husband Alan and their three children.
References
^Tim Ryan (2020). Nealon's Guide to the 33rd Dáil and 26th Seanad and the 2019 Local and European Elections. Grand Canal Publishing.
^"Denise Mitchell". Oireachtas Members Database. Archived from the original on 11 July 2019. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
^"Denise Mitchell". ElectionsIreland.org. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 11 July 2019.