John Paul Phelan (born 27 September 1978) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Carlow–Kilkenny constituency from 2011 to 2024. He previously served as Minister of State for Local Government and Electoral Reform from 2017 to 2020. He also served as a Senator for the Labour Panel from 2002 to 2011.

Early life

Phelan grew up on a farm in Tullogher, County Kilkenny. He attended national school in Listerlin and secondary school at St Augustine's and Good Counsel College, New Ross before graduating from Waterford Institute of Technology with a degree in economics and finance.

Political career

He was elected to Kilkenny County Council in 1999 for the Piltown local electoral area while still a student. At the age of 20, this made him the youngest person ever elected to the council. He was elected in 2002 to Seanad Éireann as a Senator for the Agricultural Panel, the youngest member of the 22nd Seanad, and was re-elected in 2007. He was the Fine Gael Seanad spokesperson on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, having previously held the portfolio of Seanad spokesperson on Finance. In the 2007 general election, he was beaten for the last seat by Mary White of the Green Party. He was a candidate at the 2009 European Parliament election for the East constituency but was not elected. He was elected as a Fine Gael TD for the Carlow–Kilkenny constituency at the 2011 general election. Phelan has sat on the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Law and Defence. He is one of the Irish delegates sitting on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and is an Irish representative on the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly. He was critical of the Government decision to change the rules regarding the Domiciliary Care Allowance its effect on families of children with Autism. On 10 November 2012, Phelan took part in the "Save our Services" protest march in Waterford. In June 2017, he was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government with special responsibility for Local Government and Electoral Reform. He called for a "No" vote in the 2018 referendum on Abortion. He has spearheaded legislation which may force political parties to fill 40% of their nominations with migrants, women and ethnic minorities in future elections. At the general election in February 2020, he was re-elected in the Carlow–Kilkenny constituency. He continued to serve as a junior minister until the new Fianna Fáil–Fine Gael–Green coalition government was formed in June 2020. Phelan was a member of the cross-party Oireachtas Friends of Israel in the Oireachtas. In 2023, Phelan announced that he would not contest the next general election.

Personal life

In 2018, Phelan married Fine Gael activist Claire McTernan. In 2020, he suffered a heart attack.