COMMERCIAL PANEL:SINN FÉIN'S Kathryn Reilly (22) from Ballyjamesduff, Co Cavan, is understood to be the youngest candidate ever elected to the Seanad.
Ms Reilly was returned to the Industrial and Commercial panel after a marathon count which ended early yesterday.
She had contested the general election in the Cavan-Monaghan constituency, securing an impressive 6,539 first preferences.
In the Seanad campaign, she had the imprimatur of party headquarters and concentrated her canvass in her native county, the west and Donegal.
“I am not sure I could say I enjoyed the Seanad campaign,” she said.
“Contesting a general election and the Seanad is quite stressful. My Seanad vote was different from what I had been promised on the campaign trail.”
Ms Reilly is an honours graduate in economics, politics and law from DCU and also holds a masters degree in European economic and public affairs from UCD.
She developed an interest in politics while working for former Louth TD Arthur Morgan in Leinster House during the last Dáil.
Her work included researching a report commissioned and published by the Oireachtas committee on enterprise, trade and employment on creating jobs in the agri-sector.
The report examined the creation of new employment opportunities using indigenous resources including the development of new rural enterprises and the promotion and development of new products.
Ms Reilly said yesterday she came from a strong republican background.
“Growing up, I was immersed in the republican tradition,” she added.
“It was a way of life, more than anything else.” She did not, she said, see herself primarily as a politician.
“As a republican, I have long-term goals to secure an equal society where the most vulnerable are looked after,” she added.
“I would see winning a Dáil seat, and strengthening the party’s mandate, as part of that.”
It was important, said Ms Reilly, that Sinn Féin was a force throughout the island, helping it to work towards a united Ireland.
Ms Reilly said she was totally committed to achieving unity by peaceful means.
“I was reared during the peace process and that is all I know,” she added.
