Offaly native elected for SF in Clare

A Tullamore native has won a Dail seat for Sinn Féin in Clare.

Mother -of-five Violet-Anne Wynne (32) is one of a number of Sinn Féin candidates to win a seat in the Dail after failing to be elected in last year's local elections.

She topped the poll in the Clare constituency with 8,987 (15%) of the first preference votes. In last May's local elections she secured 385 votes, 4% of the overall poll.

 A psychology graduate from Trinity College Dublin, Ms Wynne is a home help provider for young adults with disabilities. She is also a volunteer tutor working with people with literacy issues and with a crime victims helpline.

Ms Wynne moved to Dublin when she went to TCD and was living in Blanchardstown when she and her husband decided to move to Kilrush under the Rural Resettlement Scheme in 2011.

 Speaking to the Clare FM, she said that her priorities will be finding solutions to the problems in housing and healthcare.

 “We made a lot of promises and I can't wait to get in there and work with my Sinn Fein team on the house builidng we want to bring to County Clare specifically.”

Ms Wynne comes from the Protestant tradition. Speaking last year, she said that her background has never been an issue with her colleagues in Sinn Fein.“My experience in Sinn Fein and everyone I have worked has been so positive...Religion isn't important when it comes to politics...It's never been made an issue of.”