The outgoing Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine has been a TD for Donegal north-east since 2011. Married with two sons, the 47-year-old comes from a farming background and was educated at UCD.

He worked at Fianna Fáil headquarters for a number of years before returning to the family farm in Carndonagh following the death of his father. He decided to tip his toe into the political water becoming a county councillor in his native county in 2009.

He rose through the political ranks once he was elected a TD. He was the Fianna Fáil spokesperson on children before being appointed Minister of State at the Department of Justice in 2020 and in the same year was elevated to becoming the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine.