Sinn Féin’s Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh is a first-time TD following her election on count 12 in the Kildare South constituency.

Ms Ní Raghallaigh has enjoyed an accelerated rise to the halls of Leinster House – the 41-year-old primary schoolteacher was only elected as a county councillor for the first time in June.

Ms Ní Raghallaigh was selected as Sinn Féin’s candidate for the general election in Kildare South amid internal party controversy. Patricia Ryan, then Sinn Féin’s incumbent TD in the constituency, resigned from the party, claiming that she was being “undermined”.

“Absolutely nothing happened between myself and Patricia, and honestly, I really don’t know her all that well,” Ms Ní Raghallaigh told the Kildare Nationalist following her selection.

A mother of four children, Ms Ní Raghallaigh is a fluent Irish-speaker. She is involved in the Kildare chapter of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign. She lives in Kildare town.