Expelled from the Labour Party along with Joe Higgins, Clare Daly and Ruth Coppinger for his membership of the Militant tendency in 1989, Mick Barry (52) has been a full-time activist for the Socialist Party in Cork since the 1990s.

First elected to Cork City Council in 2002, he grew the party in the city under the AAA banner when they took three seats on the council in 2014 and now in his fourth general election, he has made it to Dáil Éireann after being centrally involved in the anti-water charges campaign in Cork.

Born in Columbus, Ohio, Barry returned to Ireland in 1971 at the age of eight, growing up in Rathfarnham in Dublin. He came to Cork in 1992 as an activist fort the then Militant Labour. A Manchester United fan, he lives with his wife, Patricia in Blackpool in the heart of his constituency.