Verona Murphy’s journey from truck driver to Dail history maker

Independent TD Verona Murphy in her office at Leinster House, Dublin, after she was elected as the new Ceann Comhairle (speaker), becoming the first female speaker of the Irish parliament (Brian Lawless/PA)

Former trucker Verona Murphy has travelled an often rocky road to one of the most prestigious destinations in Irish politics.

The 53-year-old from Co Wexford arrived at the Ceann Comhairle’s chair in the Dail chamber only five years after a troubled by-election campaign that, in her own words, saw her “cancelled” and branded a “national pariah”.