Drogheda-native Gerald, or Ged, Nash was elected to the Dáil for the Labour Party in 2011 but lost his seat in the 2016 election.
Four years of local campaigning on issues such as fighting gangland crime and improving Drogheda’s water infrastructure helped him win back his Dáil seat in the 2020 election.
Nash (44) came third in the February 8th poll with 11,659 votes, just 119 votes shy of the quota.
He represented Drogheda on Louth County Council from 2000 to 2011 and served as mayor of the country’s largest town from 2004 to 2005.
While serving as a TD, he was Minister of State for Business and Employment from 2014 to 2016 in the Fine Gael-Labour coalition government.
The position was a super junior ministry which meant he could attend cabinet meetings but not vote as a full member of the cabinet.
After he lost his Dáil seat in 2016, he was elected to the Seanad and was the party’s spokesman on equality, labour affairs and workers’ rights.