Pat Cullen

Patricia Yvonne Cullen (born 1965) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician, trade unionist and nurse who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Fermanagh and South Tyrone since 2024. Cullen was the Chief Executive and General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing from July 2021 to May 2024.

Early life
Cullen was born in Carrickmore, County Tyrone, and was the youngest of seven children. Her sister had a learning disability which prompted her to study mental health nursing.

Career
Cullen worked as a community nurse in west Belfast during the Troubles. She later became a registered psychotherapist. She went on to hold roles at the Public Health Agency and the Health and Social Care Board, before joining the Royal College of Nursing in 2016. In May 2019, she became director of the Northern Ireland Board of the RCN. She started acting as General Secretary and Chief Executive in April 2021, and was appointed as interim General Secretary and Chief Executive of the UK-wide RCN in July 2021.

In late 2022, she led the National Health Service strikes in which English and Welsh nurses went on strike for the first time in the nursing union's 106-year history. In April 2023, her union announced a strike on May bank holiday weekend (30 April to 2 May) after RCN members rejected the pay offer.

In 2023, Cullen was described by the New Statesman as ”one of the UKs most prominent Trade Union leaders”, being placed at No.15 in their list of the most powerful left-wing figures of the year, above many elected politicians.

In May 2024, Cullen announced she was stepping down from her current role at the RCN in order to seek election at the 2024 United Kingdom general election, in which she was elected as MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone.