Timmy Dooley’s comeback to the Dáil in the 2024 general election marks another electoral highpoint for the east Clare man in a 22-year-long political career.

The poll-topping performance by the Mountshannon man and high-profile member of Fianna Fáil is the third time that Dooley has topped the poll in general elections in Clare.

Dooley (55) lost his seat in 2020 and it was the first time that he had lost an election since becoming a member of the Oireachtas in 2002, when he was elected to the Seanad.

Dooley started in Ógra Fianna Fáil in the 1980s. A UCD commerce graduate, Mr Dooley worked in business development with a number of companies before moving full time into politics.

Dooley was the first politician to declare in the Seanad that he was not a Russian spy amid recent reports of Russian interference in Ireland.

He is married to Emer McMahon and they have adult daughters.