Last June Ann Graves lost her council seat in Fingal as the political tide went out for Sinn Féin.

On Saturday, she was elected as a TD in the new three-seat Fingal East constituency – a development which had not been anticipated by many pundits.

Originally from Drumcondra, Ms Graves was a shop steward for the Siptu trade union in the education sector.

She has been involved in local politics in Fingal for several years, working initially on the campaign of Louise O’Reilly who was a TD when all of Fingal was one large five-seat constituency.

She was originally co-opted to a seat on Fingal County Council in 2018 before being elected in 2019.

She has lived in Swords – one of the biggest population centre in the constituency – for more than 30 years.

She has three adult children and one grandchild.