Claire Kerrane

Claire Kerrane (born 24 April 1992) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Roscommon–Galway constituency since the 2020 general election.

She is a member of the Sinn Féin Ard chomhairle. She is the party's spokesperson on children and youth She joined Sinn Féin at the age of 18 during a dispute over plans to build an anaerobic digestion plant in her area, when she became involved in an action group against the project.

In 2016, Kerrane qualified as a secondary school teacher. Kerrane retained her seat at the 2024 general election.

Political views Kerrane has traced her political awakening to the 2011 closure of the emergency unit at Roscommon University Hospital, an event that sparked protests across the county and left her with a sense of betrayal after Fine Gael broke campaign promises to retain the service. Kerrane has noted that Sinn Féin had been strongly involved in the campaign, despite its limited local presence, and credited her family’s close connection with long-time Sinn Féin councillor Michael Mulligan with deepening her engagement. Kerrane has described Irish unity as her central motivation, alongside Sinn Féin left-republican commitment to social justice and equality. Rejecting claims of any ideological drift to the centre, in 2022 she argued that politics in Ireland had shifted away from old Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael divides and expressed her desire to see Sinn Féin work with other small left-wing parties to form a left-led government in the future.