After Josepha Madigan’s stepping down, Maeve O’Connell was Fine Gael’s chance to retain its two seats in the Dublin Rathdown constituency.

Married to Fine Gael TD Colm Brophy and a “proud resident” of Stillorgan for more than 25 years, she was first elected as a Dún Laoghaire Rathdown councillor in 2019 on the third count.

She went on to be re-elected in 2024 on the first count, having received the second highest number of votes in the Stillorgan local electoral area.

A long-time Fine Gael activist, she met Mr Brophy when he was standing to be the head of young Fine Gael. She was helping to run the campaign of the person opposing her now-husband.

She currently lectures in law and governance at Technological University Dublin.

Prior to that, she trained as a barrister, and was called to the bar in 1998, before taking up roles with multiple multi-national employers in Ireland.