Saoirse McHugh

Saoirse McHugh is an Irish Green Party political candidate.
Early life and education
McHugh is a native of Achill Island, County Mayo. She holds a Bachelors of Science from University College Dublin and a Masters in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security from Lancaster University.
Political career
McHugh achieved notability in the final days of the campaign for her robust challenge to Peter Casey during a television debate. “Millionaires blaming migrants is an old trope and it’s boring,” McHugh commented. She also advised Casey to "go on Dancing with the Stars if you want attention that much." Irish media exit polls showed McHugh, a first-time candidate, at 12% for first preference votes as a "shock." She was part of the so-called "Green Wave" of this election which saw unexpected support for the party throughout Ireland. McHugh received 51,019 (8.58%) first-preference votes, putting her in sixth place out of seventeen candidates and two places behind Peter Casey. She was eliminated after the eleventh count.
On 21 October 2019, McHugh confirmed that the Green Party had selected her as a general election candidate for Dáil Éireann. Writing in the Irish Times, the political analyst Harry McGee identified McHugh as one of his six "dark horse" candidates in the election.
In the 2020 Seanad election, McHugh ran unsuccessfully for the Cultural and Educational Panel.

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