Mary Banotti

Mary Elizabeth Banotti (born 29 May 1939) is a former Irish Fine Gael politician.

Mary O'Mahony was born in Dublin. She is a sister of the former Cabinet Minister Nora Owen and a grand-niece of the Irish rebel Michael Collins. Following her education she worked as a nurse in North America, England, Italy and Africa before joining Irish Distillers as an occupational health nurse and Industrial Welfare Officer in 1972. She is also divorced for many years from her Italian husband.

Between 1980 and 1984 she presented a weekly programme on social welfare rights and information on RTÉ television. Banotti unsuccessfully contested the Seanad Éireann elections of 1983 and the Dublin Central by-election the same year. In 1984 she was elected to the European Parliament, representing Fine Gael in the Dublin constituency.

She retained her seat until her retirement at the 2004 European elections. She was Fine Gael's candidate in the 1997 presidential election, coming second to Fianna Fáil's Mary McAleese.