Sheila Garrity is originally from Toronto, Canada, and has been living in Galway city for 25 years. She was the campaign manager for a number of Catherine Connolly's Dáil bids, as well as her presidential bid last year. She is a professor of early childhood education at DCU. She has five children and three grandchildren. She has described the core issues facing Galway as housing, traffic, healthcare, early education, the Irish language, neutrality and genocide.