Son of Offaly parents voted in as Fianna Fáil TD in Kildare North constituency

A SON of Offaly parents, Naoise Ó Cearúil was the second Fianna Fáil TD to be elected to represent Kildare North in the General Election.

The 35-year-old, who was born and raised in Maynooth, first became a public representative on his election to Kildare County Council in 2014.

He has served on the council since then, and was mayor of Kildare between 2021 and 2022.

Deputy Ó Cearúil is the son of Colm Ó Cearúil, a native of the Arden Road in Tullamore, and Geraldine Carty, originally from Walsh Island.

His maternal grandmother, Ann Carty, lives in Chapel St in Tullamore where she has made her home since the death of her husband, Liam some years ago.

His paternal grandparents, the late Donal and Máire Ó Cearúil, natives of Glin in Co. Limerick, were well known figures in Tullamore

Both Gaelgóirí, Donal first came to Offaly as a travelling Irish teacher in 1945 and ended his career as Principal of Tullamore Voactional School.

Speaking to the Tribune on Tuesday, Deputy Ó Cearúil's father, Colm said he and all the family were "delighted and very proud" at Naoise's election.

"Hopefully he will not alone do some good work for the town and constituency but for the entire country," said the proud father.

Alongside his work on Kildare County Council, the new TD has held various roles at several tech companies.

He studied Business and Law at Maynooth University and worked at Gong, a US-Israeli analytics company, and Zendesk. He also worked for a brief period as an Irish language secondary school teacher.

Deputy Ó Cearúil lives in his hometown with his wife and they are expecting their first child.