Sinn Féin’s Mark Ward (49) has retained his Dublin Mid-West seat. Ward, from north Clondalkin, is the party’s spokesman on mental health.

He was co-opted on to South Dublin County Council in 2016 following the election of constituency colleague Eoin Ó Broin to the Dáil. In 2019 he topped the poll in a byelection caused by the election of Fine Gael TD Frances Fitzgerald to the European Parliament.

He came in a strong second in the 2020 general election alongside party running-mate Ó Broin, who topped the poll.

A native of the Harelawn area, he spent time homeless in the mid-2000s, and in 2005 was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

He has a number of qualifications from Maynooth University, University College Dublin and South East Technological University, in behavioural therapy, community development and addiction.

A separated father of three children, he lives in Lucan. He is a life-long Dublin GAA supporter and confirms he has a tattoo of the Dublin GAA crest that covers his back.