FERMANAGH South Tyrone has a new Sinn Féin MLA – Áine Murphy, a native of Lisnaskea, who has been co-opted into the Northern Ireland Assembly seat left vacant last week by Séan Lynch.

Miss Murphy began her official duties in the Chamber on Monday morning after she signed the roll of members.

Signing the roll of members, and officially becoming an MLA, was an “emotional experience” for Áine.

Reflecting on the “magnitude of the situation” she said: “It was very emotional for us as a family and I thought of my late dad, Jonathan Murphy, who brought me to my first Cumann meeting in Lisnaskea.”

Áine was joined at Stormont on her first day by her mum, Sharon, and sister, Katie.

The emotion of that was coupled with Áine having left her post as constituency manager for Linda Dillon, MLA for Mid-Ulster.

Reflecting on her feelings on her first day in the role, Áine said: “I’m glad to get the first day under my belt! I was in the Chamber within two hours of stepping into the building, and I was glad to ask my first question.”

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, not all MLAs are allowed in the Assembly Chamber at the same time, and Miss Murphy is “grateful to have been in on Monday morning, Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning”.

Áine will have a relatively short mandate, due to the scheduled 2022 Assembly election, but she is determined to not allow this to deter her.

She said: “I’m in the role now to do the job for the people of Fermanagh South Tyrone, and I won’t get caught up in thinking about an election or any timescales.”

Áine has some priorities for her mandate. She said: “One of my big focuses is the Health Centre in Lisnaskea. Going out of the blocks yesterday, I have a question in with the Health Minister about the centre, to ask for an update on the expected time frame for the completion of the health centre on that site.

“I want to get that signed off on before the end of the mandate, and I will be consulting with Finance Minister Conor Murphy in the coming weeks to get that pushed on as much as I can, because the people in the South Fermanagh area have been without a fit-for-purpose health centre.

“The physical structure of the building is not sound, and Covid has exposed issues such as the current booking system and patients not being fit to access an appointment.

"I am very eager to push that on with the ministers. There has to be significant movement made on the Health Centre there.”

Miss Murphy will also focus on a range of other issues, including the Ulster Canal project.

There had been some commentary regarding co-option of MLAs into the Assembly as 20 of the 90 members have been co-opted during this mandate.

Responding when asked how she felt about such commentary, Miss Murphy said: “I have been co-opted, and that’s the situation we are in, and if anyone wants to do a running commentary, so be it, but I don’t pay any attention to that at all – I don’t pay attention to negativity.

"I want to give this my absolute all for the next few months, whether in the Chamber, the constituency, or standing at the side of the road dealing with a rural issue.

"I want to give my all to represent the great people of Fermanagh South Tyrone.”