Born in Birmingham, Sinn Féin TD Matt Carthy entered local politics in 1999 when he became the youngest elected representative in the county at the time.

Growing up in Carrickmacross, the 47-year-old has previously said his experience of living in a border town during the Troubles helped shaped his political views.

The father-of-five studied marketing at the Dublin Institute of Technology, where he established a Sinn Féin college branch or cumann and went on to become a party press officer.

Sinn Féin’s spokesman on Foreign Affairs and Defence, he became an MEP in 2014 and two years later was appointed the party’s director of elections.

Taking over from Sinn Féin’s longstanding Cavan-Monaghan TD Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, Carthy secured more than 16,000 votes in the 2020 poll - the highest ever received by a candidate in that constituency.

A confident media performer, Carthy was considered a shoo-in for a second term as TD