As a member of Dáil Éireann - the lower house of Ireland's Oireachtas - Marian Harkin is committed to ensuring that her constituency, located in the northern part of the Republic of Ireland, receives its share of investment, jobs, infrastructure and services. Independent Marian Harkin has represented the Sligo-Leitrim constituency, which includes counties Sligo, Leitrim and north Roscommon and south Donegal, since the 2020 general election in Ireland. She was previously a Member of Parliament or Teachta Dála from 2002 to 2007. In Europe, she has been Deputy Leader of the European Democratic Party since December 2012 and a Member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2019. She was a member of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) and a substitute in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) and the Committee on Petitions (PETI). Marian Harkin was born in 1953 in Ballintogher, County Sligo, Ireland. She studied geology at University College, Dublin, graduating with a bachelor's degree. Prior to that, she was a secondary school mathematics teacher in the town of Sligo for 23 years.