Dr Cathal Berry (42) spent 23 years in the Irish Defence Forces – reaching second-in-command in the Army Ranger Wing before qualifying as a medical doctor at the Royal College of Surgeons, and becoming head of the Military Medical School. This is the first-ever election he has contested, and he did so as a non-party candidate.

He lives in Portarlington, and it looks like he might have been one of the few candidates to benefit from boundary changes, as the most recent commission put five electoral districts – and around 10,000 votes, when the 2016 quota was 9,197 – from around this town into the Kildare South constituency.

He is married to Orla, and they have two young children.