Profile: Lisa Chambers (FF)
Mayo: Fourth TD elected of four
The Mayo count centre at the Royal Theatre, Castlebar, where Lisa Chambers and Dara Calleary, both Fianna Fáil, arrive for the count. Photograph: Michael Mc Laughlin
Lisa Chambers is one of the new breed of rising young Fianna Fáil politicians who have emerged under the leadership of Micheál Martin, of whom she is a protégée. She is leading the re-establishment of Fianna Fáil in Castlebar, former stronghold of the now disgraced Pádraig Flynn, in the wake of the party’s crash and burn in the 2011 election.
Chambers (29) is articulate and well educated. She has associated herself with the Women for Election in Mayo group, speaking at a public meeting it hosted in May 2015 seeking to promote the profile of female political activists and candidates in the county.
She is also a councillor in Castlebar, polling the second-highest number of votes in the May2014 local elections. Before that, in the 2011 general election, she was, at 24, the youngest Fianna Fáil candidate in the State.
Her political interests are in the areas of health and jobs. She is described by party colleagues as slightly shy and reserved but a “fine and solid person”. She is in favour of repealing the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution.