[2][3] McGuinness was the first female graduate of University College Dublin's Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural economics in 1980.

This proved controversial[citation needed], as it was widely expected that Fine Gael could win only one of the three seats in the East constituency.

[5] In April 2011, McGuinness announced that she wished to run for President of Ireland and would seek the Fine Gael party nomination for the 2011 presidential election.

[citation needed] In July 2014, McGuinness was elected Vice-President of the European Parliament;[8] she secured an absolute majority to go through in the first round of voting by secret ballot.

[16] Instead, Italian MEP and former European Commissioner Antonio Tajani was elected as the EPP group's nominee to replace incumbent president Martin Schulz; McGuinness received the second highest number of votes.

[20] McGuinness was one of two people, along with Andrew McDowell, who the Irish government nominated on 4 September 2020 for one position on the European Commission to replace Phil Hogan.

The proposal was shelved after a group of MEPs complained that it would create "a highly undesirable and untransparent privileged lobby channel for religious organisations".