Meet the new faces of the 32nd Dáil

The results of the 2016 general election so far indicate the 32nd Dail will see a range of new faces arriving at Leinster House.

The new deputies range from a college lecturer in the west, to a journalist in Meath to the chairwoman of a local camogie club and Tidy Town committee in Waterford.

Here are some of them:

Mary Butler (FF) - Waterford constituency

Fianna Fáil newcomer Mary Butler has come from nowhere to be elected in Waterford in her first outing in a general election. From Portlaw, Butler is a married mother of three who worked in retail in the local family business and then part-time in a jewellery shop in Waterford owned by her sister.

She was elected to Comeragh district with 639 votes in the local elections in 2014 and saw off stiff competition from three male rivals to secure the Fianna Fáil nomination for the general election. She has campaigned for the party for over 25 years.

Active in community groups, she is the chairwoman of the local camogie club and Tidy Town committee in Portlaw. She campaigned largely on local issues, in which the campaign for 24/7 cardiac services at Waterford University Hospital loomed large. In the Dáil, she says she hopes to focus on health and housing issues.

- Paul Cullen

Eoin Ó Broin SF - Dublin Mid-West

Eoin Ó Broin is a councillor in South Dublin County Council and a member of Sinn Féin's national strategy team. He was elected onto Belfast City Council in 2001, but he stepped down in 2004. He ran in the Dún Laoghaire constituency in the 2007 general election and failed to get a seat.

He ran in the 2011 general election in Dublin Mid-West and polled well. He was also defeated in the Seanad election campaign in 2011.

Mr Ó Broin went to school at Blackrock College, has a degree in cultural studies from the University of East London and an MA in Irish politics from Queen’s University Belfast. He is partner of Sinn Féin Dublin MEP Lynn Boylan.

- Kitty Holland

Shane Cassells FF - Meath West

Shane Cassells (37) of Fianna Fáil is a new TD who has been a long time waiting for his Dáil seat. He was elected to Navan Town Council in 1999 aged 21 and has been a member of Meath County Council since 2004. He has twice served as mayor of Navan. He was Fianna Fáil’s byelection candidate in the Meath constituency following John Bruton’s departure to Washington in 2005.

The late Shane McEntee held the seat on that occasion for Fine Gael, narrowly beating Mr Cassells with 34 per cent of the first preference vote to the Fianna Fail candidate’s 32 per cent.

A journalist with a BA in Journalism and Media Communications, Mr Cassells works with publishing house Devlin Media. He is married to Fiona Healy and they have three children. He is a nephew of former Ictu leader Peter Cassells.

Elaine Edwards

Anne Rabbitte (FF) - Galway East

Anne Rabbitte benefited from automatic selection because of party gender quotas, but the highly regarded Fianna Fáil county councillor went into the election as more than just a token candidate.

Originally from the north of the county, the now Portumna-based financial adviser enjoys considerable support in the Loughrea electoral area. A widow and mother of three, Rabbitte has worked for Bank of Ireland for the past 15 years.

She is the chairwoman of the Galway County Council finance committee and also a member of a number of Portumna community groups including the camogie club, the parents’ association and tidy towns committee. She is a small farm owner as well as a bog owner, and her areas of interest are rural development, tourism, health and fitness, early intervention childcare and care of the elderly. Her platform in general election 2016 focused on rejuvenating the “struggling communities” of south Galway.

- Dan Griffin

Seán Canney (Ind) - Galway East

Based in the Tuam/Dunmore area, Seán Canney topped the poll in Galway East. The chartered quantity surveyor and lecturer at GMIT has built up a strong support base since his election to Galway County Council in 2004 where he served as mayor in 2007-'08.

A father of three, he was a member of the council’s planning and economic development committee, vice-chairman of the inter-county rail committee and a former assistant secretary of Corofin GAA club. He performed well in Galway East in 2011 and received an impressive 3,400 votes in the 2014 local elections.

He supports bog owners who want to cut turf for their own use and has accused successive governments of attempting to criminalise turf cutters. He has campaigned for greater rights for the self-employed and has said the IDA should start encouraging multinational companies to invest in towns along the new M17/M18 motorway.

- Dan Griffin

Kathleen Funchion (Sinn Féin) Carlow-Kilkenny

Kathleen Funchion (33) is a full-time Siptu organiser who was elected to the Kilkenny Borough Council in 2009, the first Sinn Féin representative to be on the council since 1923. She had contested three general election campaigns before being elected on her fourth bid.

A holder of a first-class honours degree in sociology and a post-graduate qualification in employment law, the mother of two works with Siptu as a workers’ rights advocate.

Her vote in the constituency has been rising steadily, with the last outing before this one seeing her secure 16.2 per cent of the first preference vote.

- Colm Keena