Dempsey's 'surreal' Dáil visit as new TD
Newly elected Meath West TD Aisling Dempsey says signing the Register of Members for the 34th Dáil last week with her former politician dad looking on was a "surreal moment."
Deputy Dempsey visited Leinster House, her father Noel Dempsey's place of work, many times in her life but says this occasion was a "full circle moment" as this time he was one tagging along!
Dempsey made history earlier this month when she became the first female TD to be elected in Meath West having finished 700 votes clear of Fine Gael's Linda Nelson Murray in a closely fought
contest.
Dempsey was elected on the fifth count without reaching the quota and her election returns a Dáil seat to Trim for the first time since her father, former minister Noel Dempsey, stepped down from politics in 2011 after 24 years as a TD.
"I went up on Tuesday and signed the roll and brought my dad with me, the staff up there know him and they were congratulating him as much as me so that was nice and got to see his name on the 25th roll from his first Dail in 1987, they took it out for him to look at and that was really emotional," said the new Meath West TD.
"Also having him there took a bit of the focus off me!" she added.
"To be able to share that with him was a very special moment. We will have the first Dail sitting on Wednesday 18th December and I will be sitting in the chamber and we will have two family passes for that, my father doesn't care who he is bringing but he is going, and that's it!!”
It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks for Dempsey since being elected and says her first official appointment as a new TD was another significant moment.
"We had a really uplifting parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday and we had a lovely speech from Micheál Martin and as new TDS spoke to him individually for the first time," she says.
"And like in any new job you have to go in and meet with HR and IT and get a laptop and all of those things," added Dempsey.
Having spent her young life immersed in her father's political career, helping out with canvassing and spending long days in election count centres, you'd imagine public life would be second nature for the former Trim-based councillor, however she says it wasn't in the plan.
"A lot of people know that's what they want to do from a young age, whereas I didn't ever think that I would be involved in politics to the extent that my father was," said Dempsey.
"I didn't think I would become a TD, I didn't think I would go down that route but I have and I am loving every minute," she added.
The new TD says she is now focused on getting to work for her constituents in the new year.
"We have to do all of the logistics like setting up a team a constituency office and then I am determined to hit the ground running."