LAST WEEK, WE heard from the Labour Party’s Conor Sheehan and the Social Democrats’ Sinéad Gibney on their experience of being a new TD.

Today, we pick things up with a conversation with Fianna Fáil’s Erin McGreehan.

The Louth TD began her political career in 2019 when she was elected to Louth County Council before being nominated to the Seanad in 2020 by Micheál Martin.

In last year’s general election, she won a seat in the Dáil, giving Fianna Fáil back a seat in Louth that was lost in 2020.

During her time in the Seanad, McGreehan has become known for her openness and has spoken honestly in the past about things like fertility and pregnancy loss. 

She explained to us how her sister’s visual impairment has led to her dogged drive to improve services and society for people with disabilities and told us how having her parents there on her first day in the Dáil was a dream come true.

Is life as a TD what you expected?

“Yes, it has been. It’s a lot busier than being in the Seanad, there’s more scrutiny. But it’s a thrill, it’s fantastic. As a councillor, I worked in Leinster House over the years so I’ve seen it from every angle,” McGreehan said.

“As a senator, we sat in the Dáil during Covid. The chamber is such a cauldron, I suppose you don’t expect the intensity of the chamber. It’s an incredible place, that intensity.

“I think about that regularly, the importance of those seats. The incredible people that sat there before me — Maybe that’s a wee bit twee, but it doesn’t pass me by.”

Which figures stand out most to her?

“Lemass, Frank Aiken, as a Fianna Fáiler, those types of historical figures. All these people who shaped the country and gave us the country we have today.

“Even Jack Lynch, who brought us into the EU. They sat their arses on the same seats as us. As a lover of history, it’s amazing.”

Peak and pit

What has been McGreehan’s highlight so far?

“Just getting into the role. Being the chair of a committee now is huge. It’s a great opportunity. I’m really looking forward to September when we can really get into the committees,” McGreehan, who is the chair of the Higher Education committee, said.

Another highlight was the day Micheál Martin was elected as Taoiseach and having her parents and children in the gallery for her first day as a TD.

“That goes back to being a political student and a nerd and watching this stuff all my life,” McGreehan said.

On the importance of having her parents there, McGreehan said: “Like my dad left school at 12, [because] his dad died early. He was working all his life.

“This sort of job was not for people like me, people like him. He’s worked so hard all of his life, so has my mam. For him to see that [McGreehan becoming a TD], and my four kids, it’s really dreams come true stuff.

“I was told McGreehans don’t go to college when I was in secondary school.

“So that moment of seeing my parents in the gallery — they gave everything to me — so that moment, that has to be my personal highlight.”

Has there been any lowlights?

“No, I don’t really know if there is a lowlight. In any job, there are things that don’t work out.

“I’ve great colleagues, there’s a new bunch of Fianna Fáil TDs and we get on incredibly well. We’re becoming great buddies, there is a great sense of collegiality and a great sense of ambition between all of the newbies in Fianna Fáil,” McGreehan said.

She added: “I would include Paudie O’Sullivan (TD for Cork North Central) and James O’Connor (TD for Cork East) in that young flock. It’s probably not a secret that the three of us are good buddies.”

Asked what she would deem as the lowlight of the Dáil term more generally, McGreehan pointed to the speaking rights row that dominated the beginning of the year.

“That was the opposition’s January 6th moment,” McGreehan said about the day Micheál Martin’s election as Taoiseach was derailed by the opposition walkout in protest over the government’s deal with the Regional Independents. 

“In my opinion, they should be very embarrassed, because the speaking changes — what difference have they made, really? There’s a rare opportunity for backbenchers to get speaking time. It’s quite pathetic that they went this mad over what was nothing in reality.”

More generally, McGreehan said the lowest political point globally has to be Gaza.

“It’s sickening to me that the opposition are using lives in Gaza to play politics and gain favour,” she said, arguing that no government in the world has been as pro-Palestine as Ireland has.

She added that she is disappointed that all parties in the Dáil haven’t been able to “stand together against the genocide and the brutality of Netanyahu”.

“I wish we were stronger. I wish we were a bigger country, I wish we were a superpower and could put manners on Netanyahu.”

She continued: “I don’t think there is any country in the world that spends so much parliamentary time on Palestine and Gaza.

“I find it really upsetting when people say we are complicit in genocide.

“I’ve had baby shoes put at my office door before, and people saying ‘we kill babies’. We should be standing together on this, we are on the one side.”

Turning back to domestic issues, McGreehan said:

“Am I disappointed with some of the progress? Absolutely.”

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She flagged that supporting small businesses, supports for children with disabilities and “carers, carers, carers” are some of her top priorities ahead of Budget 2026.

Has being a TD brought any surprises? 

“I don’t think so, probably because I had the privilege of being in the Seanad,” McGreehan said.

“You need a good stamina to be a politician. I go home most nights, so you’re there late on a Tuesday night or a Wednesday night and back in early the next day. So it is exhausting.

“I’ve driven home with all the windows open, chewing on a bag of apples to keep awake.

“I’ve endometriosis as well so I have chronic pain. That affects me quite a bit, I don’t let it impede me, but some days are agonising.

“I have my bad day clothes, because my stomach would swell. So you learn to navigate that,” McGrehan said.

She added: “I mean, going home to four kids and a house, it’s not an easy one, I have to say. Sometimes on a Saturday afternoon I fall apart from exhaustion.

“A week of chronic pain and tiredness with the job, sometimes it just catches up with you.”

McGreehan’s four children are all under the age of 12 and “great wee boys, healthy and robust.”

“I’m really lucky. Donal, the other half, well, he is their dad, so he does everything a dad should do. And I’ve a great family network who help keep it all going.

“Really I’m absent during the week, so it can be tough.

“I wasn’t meant to have them with endo, I had a fertility treatment. I beat the odds and had four healthy boys. I’m desperately lucky,” McGreehan said. 

McGreehan said she finds it cathartic to speak about her fertility experience because for so long, nothing was said about these sorts of issues impacting women.

“That’s why I do it, because I hope it is helpful for others,” she said.

What will she be focusing on next term? 

“For me, disability and healthcare will always be a huge focus of mine. I can’t stand the inequity that is in the system.

“I have a sister who is visually impaired. She hasn’t got a disability in her own house, in places she knows, but when she is confronted by a place she doesn’t know, she has a disability.

“She is a fully functioning member of society but yet society doesn’t fully function for her. And that fucking makes me angry. Because there is no difference between me and someone with a disability other than the fact that society doesn’t function fully for them. And that is wrong.”