Shane Ross was born in Dublin, educated at St Stephen's School Dundrum, Rugby School in England and Trinity College Dublin. He has been a stockbroker, a journalist, a politician and an author. He wrote the number-one bestseller
The Bankers and co-authored, with journalist Nick Webb,
Wasters and
The Untouchables. Shane was Business Editor of the
Sunday Independent for over sixteen years, winning the Journalist of the Year award in 2009. He was a member of the Seanad for 29 years before taking a Dáil seat in 2011. In 2016, he became Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, serving in government for over four years. He lost his Dáil seat in the 2020 election.