First elected to the Dáil in 2007, Independent TD Mattie McGrath was previously a member of South Tipperary County Council from 1999 to 2007, and served as chairman of the council from 2004 to 2005.
A controversial character, he was the only TD to speak against same-sex marriage in a Dáil debate before the 2015 referendum on the issue.
He is also anti-abortion, and voted “No” in the abortion referendum in 2018.
In 2020 he infamously described the Dáil holding a minute’s silence in memory of George Floyd as “jumping on the bandwagon, showboating and nonsense”.
He also described the move to commemorate the murder of the black man by a white police officer in the US as “none of our business”.
The following year, the 66-year-old suggested Ireland was returning to “Nazi Hitler’s time” in his criticism of Covid-19 lockdowns.
Husband to Margaret Sherlock since 1987, he is a father of eight.
His daughter Máirín was elected to Tipperary County Council this summer.
