A superstar in the Sinn Féin firmament Pearse Doherty (42) is set to be one of the top vote-getters in the entire general election.

The party’s spokesman on finance and on public expenditure and reform, he has forensically and articulately highlighted problems with insurance company costs, claims and method of operation including dual pricing. He has targeted the banks, their charges, mortgage rate and tax situation as well as consistently raising the housing crisis and raging at the Government’s policies.

Stern, intense and combative in his Dáil performances, he is the party’s Dáil leader and is seen as a potential future leader. A fluent Irish speaker, he is a member of the ard chomhairle and a founding member of the party’s youth wing Ógra Shinn Féin, he was also the party’s first Senator when he was elected in 2007 to the agriculture panel.

He was elected as a TD in the 2010 Donegal South-West byelection and was re-elected in 2011. He is married with two sons and previously worked in the construction industry.