The youngest of seven children, 41-year-old John Paul O’Shea lives at the family home in Laharn, Lombardstown and works in mental health services for the HSE.

He was elected to Cork County Council in 2009 as an independent and was re-elected in 2014 topping the poll and exceeding the quota on the first count.

In 2016, he ran for the Dáil as an independent but was eliminated on the ninth count finishing above outgoing Fine Gael TD Aine Collins.

In 2018, he joined Fine Gael and was elected at the 2019 local elections.

He ran for the Dáil in 2020 but was eliminated on the fourth count and was subsequently elected in the 2024 local elections.

Following a directive from party headquarters that one candidate should come from the northern part of the constituency Mr O’Shea was automatically selected being the only nominee from the area.