Who is Verona Murphy, the Dáil's first female Ceann Comhairle?
Dáil Elected 34th Ceann The As Of Sam Murphy Verona Independent Td Hairle Boal/collins Photo Being Picture: After
Verona Murphy was crowned Ceann Comhairle on Wednesday, becoming the first woman ever to claim the role.
Perhaps of equal importance for the independent TD, she will become the first representative from Wexford to do the job, though the inaugural holder of the office, Cathal Brugha, represented neighbouring Waterford.
On a personal level, the election win for Ms Murphy completes a remarkable journey and a personal political turnaround for a woman who first made national headlines for being ousted from Fine Gael just months after being recruited.
One of 11 children of farmers from the Ramsgrange area of New Ross, Ms Murphy left school at 16 having completed her Junior Cert and moved to the UK where she worked in the Vauxhall motor company by day and McDonald's at night.
She returned home at 18 to take a transport management course and, aged 21, she purchased her first truck and trailer.
Working part-time with a solicitor, she took her Leaving Cert aged 35 and completed a law degree at night.
Until 2021, she operated Drumur Transport with her partner Joseph Druhan.
Having risen to prominence as the president of the Irish Road Hauliers Association, She was tapped by Fine Gael to be its candidate in the 2019 by-election, triggered by Mick Wallace's election to Europe.
Support from the party was swift and full-throated. In a video during the campaign, then-Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was effusive.
But there was controversy ahead of the election as she claimed in an interview that some asylum seekers who come to Ireland need to be “de-programmed” as they may have been influenced by Islamic State.
Despite apologising, Ms Murphy later backed a video in her name in which she hit back at criticisms and blamed forces in the media.
Despite the controversies, she took 23.8% of the vote in the by-election, but lost out to Fianna Fáil's Malcolm Byrne. Within days it was speculated that she would be dropped from the ticket altogether.
Five years ago to the day, that move was confirmed.
Claiming she'd been "silenced" by the party, she was accused by now-Taoiseach Simon Harris of "stoking unfounded racist fears".
Ms Murphy opted to run in 2020 as an independent and a late surge of transfers saw her beat Mr Byrne and Fine Gael's Michael D'arcy to a seat.
Within the Dáil, she proved to be a frequent and combative critic of the coalition government and her work on the Public Accounts Committee earned her a reputation as what one colleague called "a no-nonsense kind of person".
Having built a coalition of independents who won five council seats, Ms Murphy topped the poll in Wexford last month and will now make Dáil history.