Nenagh's family ties to newly-elected Sen Tom Clonan

Newly-elected Trinity College senator Tom Clonan has family links to Tipperary.

Sen Clonan, who was elected this Thursday to the seat made vacant by Ivana Bacik when she was elected last year to the Dáil, is married to Aideen Moran from Ciamalta Road.

Ms Moran, a psychiatrist, is the daughter of the much-loved former Mayor of Nenagh Cllr Jimmy Moran.

Cllr Moran, a Fianna Fáil councillor in the town for a long number of years, was married to Margaret and they ran a B&B, Sunview, on the outskirts of the town at Ciamalta.

Cllr Moran, who was a proud Mayo man but who made his home in Nenagh, passed away in July 2016, was the last ever Mayor of Nenagh before its town council was abolished in 2014. He originally came to town to work in the Mogul Mines in Silvermines.

Former senator and now Deputy Bacik, who was elected Labour Party leader in March to succeed Tipperary's Alan Kelly, also has ties to Nenagh - her stepfather Jerry Quinlan was from the town.

The late Cllr Jimmy Moran

Meanwhile, former Irish Defence Force member Sen Clonan,  a disabilities campaigner won the Trinity College Seanad by-election after the 16th count.

The final result saw him with 5,358 votes, with Maureen Gaffney in second place with 5,198.

Sen Clonan and his wife have four children, one of whom Eoghan has a rare neuromuscular disease and Sen Clonan has campaigned on disability issues as his son does not identify as "Disabled" or "Partially Sighted" even though he is legally blind and a wheelchair user.

Following his election, Sen Clonan, said Eoghan, 20, had been his senate campaign manager.

"We ran almost as a protest, to raise the fundamental human rights issues that confront people with disabilities and the cruel obstacles they face to lead a full and fulfilling life."

"My sole motivation is from our experience as a family of the challenges of having a disability in Ireland.

"It is one of the worst countries in the European Union to have a disability on every measure - social isolation, poverty, sub-optimal outcomes - we can do better," he said.