In the 2004 local elections, the highest vote in the country went to a 25-year-old candidate standing for Fine Gael in Fingal County Council. Obviously ambitious, the young Fine Gael councillor said she hoped that within 10 years she would be a “working politician who is contributing to national policy”. Photograph: Dara Mac DónaillThe three were among a large crop of young councillors among 290 elected for Fine Gael. After leaving Fine Gael, she did not retain her seat in 2016, when standing under the Renua banner. As an example, he says many colleagues in 2002 were appalled at Fine Gael TDs losing seats.
