Maria McCormack, who lives in Portlaoise but is a native of Ballyroan, is Sinn Fein’s candidate - replacing Brian Stanley.

A candidate in the recent Local Elections in Portlaoise, she got just 276 first preference votes though if the 2020 General is anything to go by, there could be considerable growth on that.

All candidates were asked to address the same three items: how they came to be a candidate, what they would like to see achieved in the lifetime of the next Government and why someone should vote for them.