Kildare graduate aiming for front line politics

It’s probably fair to say that most Irish public representatives, councillors or members of the Dáil, made their way there by way of other pursuits. Teachers, publicans and lawyers stand out in the political careers list.

Even dynastic political families generally didn’t push their lineage through the system without having heirs first earn their crusts in some ‘real job’ arena. But Kilcullen man John Healy has his eyes set on frontline politics from the off.

Given that the political cycle at both levels is fresh at the moment and no elections are likely upcoming for a while, he may have to first work in political administration ‘back rooms’ for a while. But he feels he’s in the right space to benefit from a demographic ‘changing of the guard’ on the Irish political scene. Younger people are moving in while a long-entrenched senior cohort are passing through the waiting room to retirement.

It’s not that John suggests there should be a wholesale political population turnover. He’s very aware of the value of experience, and that a balance should be kept between that and the enthusiasm of younger generations.

"It's a natural thing — sometimes young people come in we think we can solve every problem in the world overnight, and that's never really the case. So, it's great to have other people there to help temper expectations and deliver real achievable solutions, so we don't over-promise and then under-deliver."

John doesn’t have a dynastic political family to help progress his future. Or even to be the reason for his evidently passionate interest in political stuff. That could be an advantage, as there’s no baggage such as Civil War heredities, which he acknowledges as having been traumatic for generations.

"We are a people very much concerned with the past, and we do look back and dwell on things a lot, maybe let them define us too much sometimes. One of the things that you can see here now are new generations simply just moving on from that."

John's family has a background in giving service. Several members, going back to his grandfather, served in the Irish Army.

"I always wanted to do something where I thought I could help people or give back to society in some way. I thought that maybe the Army was going to be that way."

But he recalls the 2016 US election campaign between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as sparking a nascent political interest. To him, neither candidate was 'the best politicians you could find' in what was essentially a TV-led campaign. But he could see how the debates and possible outcome would impact ordinary people.

"That motivated me to feel that politics needs good people, who generally care both about other people and politics itself."

He decided to take the study route via a degree in History and Politics at UCD, which he has just completed. Looking back over the three years, he says it gave him more than he'd expected.

"I think it served me very well. I really enjoyed getting a broad knowledge across many different aspects of politics, some theoretical, some practical. It certainly helped me to decide that I wanted to continue and get involved."

While studying, he had already gotten directly involved through membership and activities in Young Fine Gael. Both in his home county and also in UCD, where he saw his college branch recognised as the YFG Branch of the Year.

In 2023, John was elected Leinster Regional Organiser on the YFG National Executive. That year, he was also part of a YFG team who spoke at the European Parliament on themes which included Economy, Environment, and Solidarity.

In 2024, he led the development of a Young Fine Gael policy document on transport, produced by the organisation's One Island Committee. Subsequently, his same committee suggested a Citizens Assembly on a United Ireland would properly facilitate the conversation surrounding Ireland’s future.

He also did a three-month internship in an Oireachtas office and was director of elections for Pierce Dargan, a local election candidate in Sandyford, Dublin.

All of which indicates a hands-on and committed attitude. Long before politics, the same attitude powered his interest in sports. While a student at Cross and Passion College Kilcullen, he was an active member of Kilcullen AFC and St Anthony’s Youth FC as well as Kilcullen GAA and athletics clubs in Crookstown and Celbridge. John was on the Kildare and Leinster high performance squads for Shot Putt and Discus and also played American Football with the Newbridge-based Cill Dara Crusaders.

He recently completed his first marathon, in Cork, where he raised over €1,000 for the Movember charity.

"That was one of the toughest things I've ever done," he says, still feeling it a few days later.

Following completion of his degree, and notwithstanding his work with YFG, it was of significant surprise to all around him that he has recently joined Fianna Fáil. He says it was 'an incredibly tough' decision, after working for Fine Gael, knocking on doors, canvassing, 'learning his trade', as he puts it.

"But at the end of the day, I had to make a decision that I think is right for me, and my conclusion was it had to be Fianna Fáil. For many reasons, but including the party's very strong core values grounded in the tradition of republicanism. They represent the goal of not only a united Ireland, but also of keeping our language alive very well."

As a keen Irish speaker, that last was particularly important.

Healy's political roadmap includes working to be a candidate in local elections, and if successful, there to eventually seek a Dáil seat. He's very much aware that the political environment has become both nastier and cynical.

"I think particularly among young people today, there's a lot of scepticism, and I can't say that I blame them. To an extent, government political parties in Ireland have, over the years, done things that have broken trust with people. I think it's understandable, after going through a number of hard times, that people feel a bit alienated, a bit disenfranchised.

“Government has to work a lot harder to get that trust back, but I think there is now what we haven't seen before, where we have younger people like myself coming in and trying to move into these political spaces and represent opinions that may not have been in the past."

That's going to be hard. That's more marathon stuff. There's a lot more 'toughest thing I've ever done' ahead of John Healy. But he has form in never backing off.