Election 2020: Mairéad Farrell (Sinn Féin)

Mairéad Farrell (30) shares a name and republican politics with her aunt and namesake, who was shot dead by the SAS in controversial circumstances in Gibraltar in March 1988. Farrell is part of a new generation of young Sinn Féin TDs elected in the party’s surge.

Her success is all the more remarkable given her disappointing showing in the local elections in 2019 when she lost the seat on the council which she held between 2014 and 2019. A native of Mervue in Galway city, Farrell has a BA in economics and history and a masters in Finance.

She has worked at a financial services company in Parkmore and her expertise in the area will be helpful if her party enters Government. She attributes her success in the election to the housing crisis in Galway, which is the most expensive place to own or rent a house in Ireland outside Dublin.