| Karen Mullan | |
| Honorific-Suffix: | MLA |
| Office: | Member of the Legislative Assembly for Foyle |
| Assembly: | Northern Ireland |
| Predecessor: | Elisha McCallion |
| Successor: | Pádraig Delargy Ciara Ferguson |
| Term Start: | 20 June 2017 |
| Term End: | 13 September 2021 |
| Birth Date: | 1976 8, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Derry, Northern Ireland |
| Nationality: | Irish |
| Party: | Sinn Féin |
Karen Mullan MLA (born 18 August 1976) is a Sinn Féin politician from Derry, Northern Ireland who served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Foyle constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly from June 2017 to 2021.[1]
Mullan served as a community worker in Derry prior to her co-option by Sinn Féin.[2] She was co-opted after Foyle MLA Elisha McCallion was elected to the House of Commons following the 2017 general election. Mullan was Sinn Féin's northern education spokesperson in the assembly.[3]
She is a graduate of Ulster University with a degree in community development, and is a former manager of Hillcrest Trust, a community centre in the Waterside area of Derry.[4]
She played a key role in setting up a charity, Pink Ladies Cancer Support Group, which lobbied for the delivery of the North-West Cancer Centre at Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry.[5]
She left the assembly with Martina Anderson on 13 September 2021 being replaced by Pádraig Delargy and Ciara Ferguson.[6]
Mullan is also a director of Waterside Neighbourhood Partnership, which is a community group based in Derry. The organisation was found guilty in 2017 of having unlawfully discriminated against a job applicant based on political opinion.[7] The organisation was ordered to pay £11,000 to the applicant, who was the highest-scoring candidate in the interviews. Giving evidence at the tribunal, Mullan revealed during cross-examination that an interview panellist informed her that they "had been bullied" into giving a better score. The tribunal said Mullan's evidence "lacked credibility".