Sinn Féin party leader Mary Lou McDonald has moved Roscommon and Galway TD, Claire Kerrane, to the agriculture portfolio in a frontbench reshuffle.
Deputy Kerrane has replaced the Cavan Monaghan TD Matt Carthy who was the party’s spokesperson on agriculture since 2020.
The Sinn Féin leader said today (Monday, April 3) that she was “setting out the team that will lead Sinn Féin into the next general election”.
“Matt Carthy will bring a wealth of experience from his time as an MEP in the European Parliament to the foreign affairs portfolio, and Claire Kerrane will bring a real personal passion for the future of the family farm to the agriculture brief,” she said.
“We believe that climate and transport should be taken as stand-alone portfolios. Therefore, Darren O’Rourke will continue to hold the environment and climate brief while Martin Kenny takes on transport and communications.”
In total there were 10 changes unveiled in the reshuffle but David Cullinane will continue as health spokesperson while Eoin Ó Broin will remain as housing spokesperson.
Deputy Kerrane was previously the party’s spokesperson on Social Protection and Rural Development and sat on the Oireachtas Committee for Social Protection, Community, Rural Development and the Islands.
According to Sinn Féin’s website Deputy Kerrane’s father is a “small beef farmer”.
The 29-year-old TD comes from Tibohine in west Roscommon and is a qualified secondary school teacher.
According to Sinn Féin Deputy Kerrane “has been active on local issues for almost 10 years”.
The party stated that in her late-teens, Deputy Kerrane was heavily involved in the campaign against the closure of the accident and emergency unit in Co. Roscommon and has actively campaigned against evictions at family homes.
The Roscommon and Galway TD has also campaigned for the continuation of domestic turf cutting rights and against the closure of the Rosalie Home in Castlerea and Cuisle in Donamon.