A native of Patrickswell in Co Limerick, Niall Collins is a Fianna Fáil TD and a member of the well known Collins political dynasty. His grandfather James Collins represented Limerick in the Dáil from 1948-1967; his uncle Gerry Collins is a former MEP and TD while another uncle, Michael Collins, was a Limerick TD from 1997-2007. Having previously served as a county councillor for the Bruff local electoral area, Collins was first elected to the Dáil in 2007 and received one of the highestnew comer first preference votes in the country. The 42-year-old married father has previously acted as Fianna Fáil's spokesman on environment, community and local government and was the party's justice spokesman during the last government.