Thomas Gould (56), who has just been re-elected as a TD, fell short in his first bid to win a Dáil seat when he ran as the then sitting Sinn Féin TD Jonathan O’Brien’s running mate in Cork North-Central in 2016.

Four years later, when he replaced the retiring O’Brien, he came home on a tsunami of support with almost 14,000 votes.

A native of Knocknaheeny, where he is active in St Vincent’s GAA club, Mr Gould was first elected to Cork City Council in 2009 and served there until his election to the Dáil in 2020. His win was greeted with a chorus of his supporters singing “Vote Sinn Féin” to the air of Prince’s Purple Rain.

A logistics manager with a company on Cork’s northside prior to being elected to Dáil Éireann, he lives in Gurranebraher with his wife Michelle – who was elected to Cork City Council earlier this year – and their two daughters.