Johnny Mythen (61), Sinn Féin newest TD for Wexford is the party's first representative in the country since James Ryan's election in 1918.
The Enniscorthy man was elected with 18,717 first preferences, 1½ times the quota, which is all the more remarkable considering he lost his seat on the local council, where he had served for five years, just nine months previously.
He finished fifth in the byelection in the county in November, receiving just a quarter of the votes of the victor, Malcolm Byrne of Fianna Fáil. In the 2016 general election he narrowly missed out on a seat after Fine Gael’s Paul Kehoe beat him by just 32 votes.
Mythen is a retired ESB technician who was heavily involved in trade union activities and served on Unite’s national negotiating team.
He is a grandfather and coaches a GAA team in Enniscorthy.
