Barry Heneghan, the TD for Dublin Bay North, has confirmed he is to appear on Virgin Media’s Grá ar an Trá reality show on Tuesday but moved to reassure his constituents it was filmed last June and he remains hard at work in his office.
Described as Love Island with a bit of Irish weather thrown in, the show involves 10 young singletons at Waterford’s Oyster Bay Lodge in Woodstown where they hope to find love (grá) while polishing their Irish language skills.
It will be the second time Barry Heneghan is introduced to the masses following his debut election to Dáil Eireann last year.
But playing down any notion his heart is really in rural reality television, the Dublin TD took to Instagram to confirm and deny.
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“Did I think I’d be a TD? No. Do I regret [being on the show]? Absolutely not. It was great craic and you’ll have to watch the show and find out if I found grá,” he said in the good humoured post.
“Now I’m in my office working, I’m not down in the [TV show’s] house as some people think it was live. So if you have an issues in Dublin Bay North, I’m working, I’m not chasing love down in the site [where] this was filmed.”
He explained that his segment was shot last June and that he has a background in TG4 and Irish language content.
The show’s 10 participants are divided between fluent Irish speakers and those starting out, or a bit rusty. The couple whose language skills improve the most will win €10,000.
Heneghan (26) entered the Dáil as one of the so-called “locked out” generation – living at home with his parents because of the housing crisis and high rents.
A social media enthusiast, he is a graduate of Dublin City University where he studied mechanical engineering and sustainable energy systems.
