Hackett has served as a Senator since 2019. She has been a Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine since June 2020. Born in Mayo, Hackett has been living in Geashill, Co Offaly for about 20 years and was elected to the Offaly County council in 2019. Hackett wants to support farmers, improve housing, and protect the environment.

Because there is always a third way. It’s not a choice between denying climate change or inflicting hardship on everyone, there is a way for counties like Offaly to pioneer a new, sustainable way that still provides good employment. Likewise, it’s shaping up in Offaly to be two men from the civil war parties maintaining the status quo, and one outsider who will rail against everything from the outside, but with no interest in actual governance. As a woman with experience at the cabinet table, I can stand up for Offaly in a practical way; working with others to be effective, not just loud.

In Offaly, it’s pressure on public services, particularly housing, health, and education. Resolving this requires real vision which includes addressing climate change because all these issues are interlinked. We need to plot the way towards a future where we all have stability and comfort, without it costing the planet. Of regional importance - we need to review the Bord na Móna mandate to ensure it is working for communities and nature.

I would share my vision for Offaly, a county with a history of being at the forefront of a new way of doing things, going all the way back to rural electrification. This county can lead on new methods of construction, on new skills in retrofitting and nature preservation, on new methods of agriculture and heating our homes. That will be my mission from day one.