There needs to be more diversity in Irish politics, according to the former Fine Gael TD Noel Rock.
The former deputy in Dublin North-West lost his seat in February's General Election.
He said that the seven months since then have been a very strange time and have "simultaneously flew and crawled by".
Speaking to On The Record with Gavan Reilly, Mr Rock said he was an outsider entering politics and that he would like to see a broader range of perspectives among elected representatives.
He said: "Going into politics, I would have been an outsider if you consider I grew up in a single-parent household in Ballymun, not your traditional Fine Gael stronghold.
"That would have made me different to quite a few TDs and other people in the party, and gave me a different perspective on things.
He said that after his career in politics, he's now "on the outside looking inwards".
Mr Rock said: "That's a pretty peculiar experience because this government is very very different.
"It's strange how my political demise kind of correlates and works side by side with COVID, the events are very much wrapped up in each other."
A gifted public representative. A really decent person who gives a damn. He’ll be back & politics will be the better for it https://t.co/myQ8MUGh5s
— Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) September 13, 2020
He said it has been "tricky" trying to find a career after being a TD.
He added: "Obviously being a 32-year-old unemployed during a pandemic, it's a tricky one to try and engineer job prospects and a new career.
"Normally when people get into politics, if they get elected at a young age, they have a seat for life.
"In my case, it's unusual that I won a very marginal seat at a very young age and accordingly that's why you produce this statistic that I'm the youngest former TD in my lifetime."
Mr Rock said that the advent of COVID-19 has "stripped away" the option for him to reinvent himself in a new career.
He said: "A lot of people simply don't know that you've lost your seat, they still think you're a TD and they stop you accordingly and tell you about the broken footpaths."
General election
He said he knew "things were starting to slip away" in terms of him being able to retain his seat when the controversy regarding the RIC commemoration surrounding Fine Gael began to erupt.
The party subsequently suffered it's second-worst result ever in February's General Election when it retained just 35 seats.
Mr Rock said he doesn't blame the leadership of the party for its result in the election as they were trying to put together "an honest manifesto".
He added: "The central point I'm trying to make is that politics needs more perspectives, it needs people from the outside, I think it still needs more young people."
He said the lack of gender representation in Irish politics was "a very true and a very real problem" but there is also an issue around the types of people elected in terms of perspectives, class, and age.
"There's a real issue around diversity in our party politics.
"Just because you're inside the room doesn't make you an insider."
Mr Rock said there was "shame" associated with losing a seat as a TD and talking about "how far you fall" and that he's not trying to elicit sympathy but rather is trying to give an inside view of what that process looks like.
He said it had been "a difficult start" for the government and he hopes they can "find their feet".
He added: "I'm talking as a former politician and I'm talking as a person without a job and a private citizen and I need this government to succeed and to do well so that the country doesn't go belly up."
