Cynthia Ní Mhurchú

Cynthia Ní Mhurchú (; born 1966) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician, barrister and former radio host with (RTÉ) who has served as a Member of the European Parliament for the South constituency since July 2024. As a broadcaster, she presented Eurovision Song Contest 1994 in Dublin along with Gerry Ryan.

Early life Cynthia Murphy was born in Carlow. Her parents were Brendan Murphy and Columba Murphy (née Brophy). Her mother was involved in local Fine Gael politics in Carlow. She adopted the Irish language version of her surname, Ní Mhurchú, at the age of fifteen. She co-hosted the Eurovision Song Contest with Gerry Ryan in 1994. She has also been a web columnist for several years and has written extensively on education, training and careers.

She became a barrister after leaving RTÉ.

Political career Ní Mhurchú joined Fianna Fáil as she felt it supported the Irish language. In 1992, Ní Mhurchú was approached by the party to run in Dublin South-East in the 1992 Irish general election but declined the offer as she wanted to study for the bar. Ní Mhurchú received 55,209 (8.0%) first preference votes and was elected on the 20th count.

Ní Mhurchú has described her political views as "centrist, slightly left of centre."

Personal life Ní Mhurchú is married to John Kavanagh and has two children.

Ní Mhurchú challenged the behavior immediately during the meeting, stating, "It is the height of an insult to a woman, to an MEP, to a member to be snorted at with the sound of a pig."