Profile: Jonathan O’Brien (SF)

Jonathan O'Brien (44) was elected in 2011 as the first Sinn Féin TD in the constituency since before the Civil War. It was his third attempt, but a polltopping performance. He has consolidated that position with his work on the ground and his tenure, first as spokesman on justice, equality and defence and latterly as the party's education spokesman. A thoughtful contributor to debates in a range of areas, he tends not to engage in gratuitous heckling and his criticisms are judiciously made and well informed.He uses Dáil question time to seek information rather than to make grandstanding statements. A campaigner on homelessness and on the drugs crisis in Cork, he was on the local drugs task force while a Cork City councillor and has spoken poignantly about his brother's battle with drug addiction and homelessness. A father of four, the Farranree TD played underage GAA for Na Piarsaigh and was a leading campaigner in the fight to save Cork City FC in 2009 and 2010.