Profile: Niamh Smyth (FF)

Newcomer Fianna Fáil's Niamh Smyth won the fourth and final seat in the Cavan Monaghan constituency. Smyth was elected on the 10th and final count with 9,644 votes after Fine Gael Senator Joe O'Reilly was eliminated. Smyth topped the polls in the 2014 local elections in Cavan-Monaghan and sits on Cavan council. Smyth graduated from National College of Art and Design and was a secondary school teacher. There is a Fianna Fáil tradition in her family; her grand uncle Paddy Smith was elected to Dáil Éireann at the age of 22 and was the longest serving minister in the history of the State with 54 years of service. – ÁINE McMAHON