Pat Deering (49) is a farmer from Ballybit, Co Carlow, who has been a Fine Gael TD since 2011. His father, Micheal Deering, was a councillor. He attended the Kildalton Agricultural College in the mid-1980s and is a member of the Irish Farmers' Association since 1999. He has a strong involvement with the GAA in Co Carlow and was chairman of the county board from 2005 to 2010.
He has been a member of the Fine Gael party since he was in his teens, and was a member of Carlow County Council from 2009 to 2011.
He is married and has one son and one daughter.