Fianna Fáil's John Dennehy readily admits he isn't a media man - he prefers to win votes by knocking on doors than by doing the rounds of radio and television stations.
The 62-year-old father of seven is a former supervisor at Irish Steel Ltd. A friendly, unassuming man, he was first elected to the Dáil in 1987 in Cork South Central and retained his seat in 1989.
He failed to be re-elected in 1992, but returned to the Dáil in the 1997 election.
The Fianna Fáil veteran is a former co-chairman of the committee of the British-Irish Interparliamentary Body. He served as assistant government chief whip from 1989 to 1991.
Mr Dennehy, who lives in Togher, Co Cork, was first elected to Cork Corporation in 1979 and acted as Lord Mayor from 1983 to 1984.
He has also been the chairman of the Southern Health Board on two occasions - from 1984 to 1986 and 1995 to 1997.
Married to Philomena Martin, he was educated at the Sharman Crawford Technical Institute and Cork College of Commerce.