Profile: Thomas Byrne (FF)

Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fáil) returns to the Dáil for a second term after losing his seat in 2011. He spent five years in the Seanad, elected to the cultural and educational panel, and served as Seanad spokesman on public expenditure and financial sector reform and later as health spokesman. He was convenor of the Oireachtas Social and Family Affairs Committee. Living in Colpe, Co Meath, Byrne (38) was educated at St Mary’s Diocesan School, Drogheda, and Trinity College Dublin, where he studied law and subsequently worked as a solicitor. He is married to Ann Hunt and they have three children. An articulate and combative speaker and frequent Seanad contributor, he initiated a number of Bills in the Upper House, including the Debt Settlement and Mortgage Resolution Office Bill (to deal with the mortgage crisis and remove the bank veto)and the Regulation of Debt Management Advisors Bill (to tighten regulations on companies providing debt advice and household budgeting services).