Charlie McConalogue


Charlie McConalogue is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who has served as Minister of State for Law Reform since July 2020. He has been a Teachta Dála for the Donegal constituency since the 2016 general election. He previously sat as a Teachta Dála for the Donegal North-East constituency from 2011 to 2016.

Early life

McConalogue has a degree in economics, politics, and history from University College Dublin, which he completed after a year as Education Officer in the UCD Students' Union. After graduation, he worked as a political organiser at the Fianna Fáil party headquarters in Dublin. Upon the death of his father, he returned home to Carndonagh, County Donegal, to manage the family farm.

Political career

McConalogue was elected to Donegal County Council at the 2009 local elections to represent the Inishowen electoral area.
After Jim McDaid's retirement and Niall Blaney's decision to step down from politics for personal reasons, Fianna Fáil had no sitting TD in Donegal North-East to contest the 2011 general election. The party chose McConalogue as Fianna Fáil's sole candidate for the constituency.
In the election, he won 17.4% of the first-preference vote and was elected on the 9th count to fill the third and final seat, behind Sinn Féin's Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and Fine Gael's Joe McHugh. He was the Fianna Fáil spokesperson on Children from April 2011 to July 2012. In July 2012, he was appointed as party spokesperson on Education and Skills.
In the 2016 general election, after a redrawing of constituency boundaries, McConalogue ran alongside Pat "the Cope" Gallagher as one of two Fianna Fáil candidates in the new five-seater Donegal constituency. McConalogue topped the poll and was elected on the first count.
He represented Fianna Fáil in talks on government formation in 2016.
On 1 July 2020, McConalogue was appointed as a Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality with responsibility for law reform.