One of the most unlikeliest wins of this year’s General Election may have been down to a network of pro-life prayer groups.

Carol Nolan was first elected to the Dáil as a Sinn Féin candidate in 2016. However, she resigned from the party after campaigning against Repeal and voted against the Government’s abortion legislation. Without the support base, resources and political infrastructure of Sinn Féin, and with her 3 seat constituency in Offaly becoming a five-seater that included all of Laois as well, the odds of her reelection were quite low.

Writing in Laois Today, political commentator, John Whelan, said that a network of pro-life prayer groups, however, came to her aid and rescued her campaign. In the space of a few weeks her team galvanised support for her by phoning non-stop to a network of contacts that shared their Christian family values and pro-life stance.

She ended up winning the fourth seat in the constituency by a comfortable margin.