Ike Efobi is one of 11 candidates competing for three seats in the Dublin University (Trinity College) constituency in the forthcoming Seanad elections. "I hope that, come 24 July, a positive step will have been taken in Irish politics by Trinity graduates when they vote for me, as I represent the changing face of Ireland, " Efobi told the Sunday Tribune this weekend. "Trinity has always been a pioneering college in areas of academia and research and it will continue this pioneering theme if it elects the first coloured person to the Seanad."

Although Efobi has been a member of Fianna F�il for a number of years, first in Trinity and then in the Matt Farrell Cumman in Leixlip, he is standing as an independent candidate for the Seanad election.

Born in Nigeria on Christmas Eve 1965, he moved to Zimbabwe after finishing his degree in political administration. He met his Irish wife Melanie Morris there and got married in October 1994.

Along with Melanie, he set up a successful business importing drapery to Zimbabwe before the couple left for Ireland with their two sons to get away from the vicious political climate created by the Mugabe regime in 1999.

In the same year, Efobi was conferred with post-nuptial citizenship here and got his Irish passport. His first job in Ireland was as a cleaner at the Intel plant in Leixlip.

A curious incident with a computer in Intel acted as the catalyst to encourage Efobi to go to Trinity and start his path towards politics. "I had never used a computer before and one day I sat at one to have a look when I worked as a cleaner in Intel.

I clicked the mouse and after I closed down a Word document by accident, I thought that I had broken the whole system, " he recalled. "I was afraid that I was going to have to pay for the whole system with my meagre salary and it was only after seeing someone else use Word that I realised I had not broken it at all."

Efobi subsequently decided it was time to learn about computers so he applied to the School of Computer Science and Statistics at TCD where he studied Information Systems.

"I did the course part-time and it was not easy to juggle the course with work in various jobs. I had to pay my college fees and look after a young family but thankfully the senior tutors' office and a number of local organisations in Leixlip helped me out with the fees, " he said. "I graduated from Trinity College in 2005 and now I work as an IT systems analyst at the Quality Hotel in Dublin."

The father of two sons and a daughter hopes to seek more funding and a better means-testing system for mature students if he gets elected to the Seanad. He also wants to help the elderly and lobby the South African government to set up a Nelson Mandela Award for the brightest science and arts graduates in Trinity.

"Trinity graduates should use their mandate to show that Ireland is changing and acknowledge the new Irish citizens amongst us, " he said.

"They can act as catalysts who are not afraid of change but rather create change."

Efobi faces a tough challenge against 10 other candidates, among them sitting senators Shane Ross and David Norris and well-known law lecturer Ivana Bacik.