As an MEP, the Fine Gael presidential candidate, Ms Mary Banotti, has worked on a variety of issues including those on the environment and women's rights. Separated with one daughter, Tania, who is now in her mid-20s, Ms Banotti has been an MEP for Dublin since 1984.
Born Mary O'Mahony in 1939 to a Dublin theatre family, she is a sister of the former Minister for Justice, Mrs Nora Owen, and a grandniece of Michael Collins.
Educated in Wicklow, she then studied nursing in London. She subsequently worked and travelled extensively. She met her husband, an Italian doctor, while working in Kenya.
In 1973 she was appointed a social worker at Irish Distillers Ltd where she looked after pensions and pensioners. She was interviewed frequently on social issues by RTE television.
She was an unsuccessful Fine Gael candidate in the Dublin Central by-election in 1983. She claimed then that she was a social democrat and as far to the left as could be in the party.
She was a founder member of ADAPT and Women's Aid, and also chairwoman of the Rutland Centre.
In 1984, she was elected an MEP for Dublin, and retained her seat in the two European elections since. While an MEP, she has been involved on many committees dealing with issues including the environment, drug abuse, political affairs and women's rights.
In 1989 she was named as one of the best legislators in the European Parliament on environmental issues in a list issued from Brussels by the European Environmental Bureau.