Jennifer McCann

Who is Jennifer McCann?

Jennifer McCann MLA is an Irish republican politician in Northern Ireland, who was elected in 2007 to the Northern Ireland Assembly as a Sinn Féin member for Belfast West.

McCann was born in the Twinbrook area of Belfast, and was friends with Bobby Sands and his sister Bernadette. She joined the republican movement as a schoolgirl, becoming a member of Cumann na mBan then joining the Provisional Irish Republican Army aged 17. McCann was arrested aged 20, after shooting a Royal Ulster Constabulary police officer, and subsequently sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.

McCann was released from prison after serving just over ten years of her sentence, and began working for Sinn Féin in the POW Dept and Women's Department. She is active on a number of projects in her community, including the Sally Gardens Community Centre Committee, the Safer Neighbourhoods Project, the Colin Community Festival, the Falls Community Council's Community Drugs Programme.

McCann is married to former IRA prisoner Rab Kerr, with whom she has three children.