Stephenson was born in Belfast and is an international aid worker based in Castlecomer. She spent six years in East Africa before settling in the Carlow-Kilkenny border. She wants to prioritise public services, affordable housing, healthcare and climate.

I have felt quite disillusioned with Irish politics over recent years and I know I'm not alone in this. I decided to run to give the many other people who feel like me a new option. People deserve representatives that will fight for human rights and dignity to be at the core of all our legislation and that is what I will do.

Housing is the greatest challenge we face because it impacts everything else. Without secure and truly affordable housing, it's almost impossible to plan for your future. The rising cost of mortgages and rents are in turn contributing to the overall cost of living crisis and we must do more to tackle this.

I would want my time to be about the serious gaps in service provision for psychological assessments for children deserves more attention. In particular, children with complex/dual needs often fall through the cracks. We need a whole of Government approach to bringing down waiting lists. Key to this is improving working conditions for staff to address issues with retention. This is something I want to prioritise if elected.