Ireland's newest TD says she ran on her own track record.
Labour's Ivana Bacik was elected in the Dublin Bay South by-election last week.
She picked up over 30% of first preference votes, and retained her lead as all other candidates were eliminated over nine counts.
She is now a representative in Dáil Éireann after nearly 14 years in the Seanad.
In her first radio interview since becoming a TD, she told The Hard Shoulder there is an element of personal attention to candidates in by-elections.
"In a by-election I suppose there is always a focus perhaps more than in a general [election] on the individual candidate.
"So certainly I was standing on my own track record as a fairly experienced legislator, and somebody who has been really honoured to have represented graduates of Dublin University over many years.
"And I've brought in more legislation through the Seanad than any other Senator - so I stood on my own record.
"But also on the Labour values of equality, solidarity and fairness - and I think the results really showed there was huge support for those values across the constituency".
'Government will be judged'
Deputy Bacik says the first bill she will introduce in the Dáil will be one around renters protection.
And she says the key issue of housing will be what the Government will be judged on.
"I think it's certainly a key issue on which the Government will be judged.
"And I suppose it's symptomatic of an approach which, until now, this Government has adopted which I think is now shown not to be effective.
"That approach that they've relied upon, in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, is a reliance on the private sector and on the market to deliver housing.
"We now see that hasn't been the case, and we now see that even the ESRI and the Central Bank are saying what we in Labour have been saying for many years now - which is the State needs to step up and we need to see State investment in the building of social and affordable homes on public land.
"And that's the key thing that will provide the necessary change for people who are so desperate to see more houses."
Deputy Bacik adds that a reliance on private development "has resulted in not the right sort of homes.
"In other words what we've seen is co-living, we've seen hotels, we've seen student accommodation - particularly in Dublin.
"What we haven't seen is sustainable homes, bigger apartments and indeed houses into which individuals and families can feel that they are going to live into the future".
