Seamus McGrath (50), who has won a seat in Cork South-Central in the general election, is the younger brother of outgoing Fianna Fáil Cork South-Central TD Michael McGrath.

He was well placed to hold his brother’s seat for Fianna Fáil in his first Dáil bid after achieving the highest number of first-preference votes in the country in the June local elections to hold his seat on Cork County Council.

A native of Passage West, the younger McGrath’s first foray into electoral politics came in 2009 when he polled 3,996 votes to be elected to Cork County Council on the first count for the Carrigaline local electoral area, having been co-opted onto the council in 2007 to replace his brother.

A commerce graduate of UCC, where he topped his class each year, McGrath worked in retail before joining An Gárda Síochána and serving as a probationer garda in Fermoy, only to leave to manage his brother’s 2007 election campaign. He lives in Carrigaline with his wife Gayle and three daughters.