Louis O'Hara

Louis O'Hara TD
O'Hara in 2022
Teachta Dála
Incumbent
Assumed office November 2024
Constituency	Galway East
Personal details
Born	1997/1998 (age 27–28)[1]
Political party	Sinn Féin
Alma mater	University of Galway

Louis O'Hara (born 1997/1998) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Galway East constituency since the 2024 general election.^[2][3]

The son of a solicitor,^[1] O'Hara is from Cashla, a townland in Athenry civil parish. O'Hara graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Public and Social Policy and a Master of Arts in Public Activism and Advocacy, both from the University of Galway.^[1][4]

O'Hara joined Sinn Féin at the age of 17, stating he was drawn in by the party's focus on representing young people.^[5]

O'Hara stood unsuccessfully at the 2019 local elections to Galway County Council.^[6] At the 2020 general election, aged 22 and still a student at University of Galway, O'Hara lost out to Anne Rabbitte of Fianna Fáil.^[7][5]

Following the election of Sinn Féin's Midlands North West MEP Matt Carthy as TD for Cavan-Monaghan in February 2020 and his replacement as MEP by Chris MacManus of Sligo, O'Hara became constituency manager for MacManus, a role he held until the 2024 general election.^[8]

In 2020 O'Hara criticised Sinn Féin's Northern Ireland Finance Minister Conor Murphy after Murphy stated that Paul Quinn, who was murdered in 2007, was involved in smuggling and criminality.^[1]

O'Hara was elected at the 2024 local elections to Galway County Council for the Athenry–Oranmore area.^[5]

At the 2024 general election, O'Hara was elected Teachta Dála for the Galway East constituency, having won 14% of the first preference vote.^[9] In a party selection convention held shortly after the general election, Martin McNamara was selected to replace O'Hara on Galway County Council as a Sinn Féin councillor representing the Athenry-Oranmore local electoral area.^[10]

O'Hara has campaigned on the issues of housing, health, transport, and rural development, with a particular focus on dereliction in towns across County Galway,^[11] a reduction in rents and provision of affordable housing,^[12][13] reopening the Western Railway Corridor to connect Tuam and Athenry with Galway City as well as an increase and enhancement of primary healthcare services.^[14] O'Hara has also highlighted the destructive role that large corporations are playing in relation to the issue of climate change; His 2020 manifesto stated "If we are serious about tackling the climate crisis we must target those who are responsible for pollution".^[1] As the spokesperson for Galway East Sinn Féin in January 2021, O'Hara published an opinion piece in the Galway Advertiser newspaper where he outlined some of the rationale for holding a referendum to affect constitutional change on the issue of Irish unity. In the article he references research carried out by Dr Kurt Huebner^[15] of the University of British Columbia which forecast that "Irish Unity would deliver a €35.6 billion boost in GDP for the island in the first eight years after unification, resulting in more jobs, higher wages, and more money to spend on public services".^[16][17]

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