First elected to the Dáil in 2007, Independent TD Mattie McGrath was previously a member of South Tipperary County Council from 1999 to 2007, and served as chairman of the council from 2004 to 2005.

A controversial character, he was the only TD to speak against same-sex marriage in a Dáil debate before the 2015 referendum on the issue.

He is also anti-abortion, and voted “No” in the abortion referendum in 2018.

In 2020 he infamously described the Dáil holding a minute’s silence in memory of George Floyd as “jumping on the bandwagon, showboating and nonsense”.

He also described the move to commemorate the murder of the black man by a white police officer in the US as “none of our business”.

The following year, the 66-year-old suggested Ireland was returning to “Nazi Hitler’s time” in his criticism of Covid-19 lockdowns.

Husband to Margaret Sherlock since 1987, he is a father of eight.

His daughter Máirín was elected to Tipperary County Council this summer.