Profile: Joan Collins (Ind)

Elected to the Dáil for the first time in 2011, Joan Collins (54) started out as a member of People Before Profit and the United Left Alliance. After a parting of the ways she became an Independent and part of the technical group in the Dáil. The Supreme Court is currently hearing her appeal against a High Court rejection of her challenge to the issuing of some €31 billion worth of promissory notes to the former Anglo Irish Bank, Irish Nationwide Building Society and the EBS. Earlier this month, a separate case against her and eight others was dismissed. They had been charged with failing to comply with a garda's direction during an anti-water meter protest. She has been a major campaigner against water charges. She served as a Dublin City councillor for seven years from 2004.