Born in Carrigart, County Donegal, in 1971. McHugh was educated at Umlagh National School and the Loreto Convent, Milford. He attended the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, where he received an honours degree in economics and sociology, and a higher diploma in education. A keen sportsman, McHugh has been a member of the Carrigart Boxing Club, has played soccer in the Donegal League with Cranford F.C. and Bonagee United F.C., and has also been a Gaelic footballer. McHugh taught geography and mathematics at the Loreto Convent Secondary School, Letterkenny from 1993 to 1995. From 1995 to 1996, he taught A-level economics in Dubai, during which time he helped establish the first GAA club in the United Arab Emirates. In 1996, he returned to Ireland and became a youth worker in the Ballyboe area of Letterkenny.
Selected by Fine Gael to run for a Donegal County Council seat in the Milford local electoral area, McHugh was elected on 11 June 1999. In 2001, he introduced a motion to establish a youth council for the county, which led to the formation of the Donegal Youth Council, the first democratically elected youth forum in Ireland. He also worked closely with Young Fine Gael, helping to establish the first branch in the county in March 2004. While a member of the council, he was appointed chairman of the cross-border body ERNACT, where he made the provision of broadband in border areas a priority.
He was elected to Seanad Éireann for the Administrative Panel in 2002, where he served as Fine Gael Spokesperson on Community, Rural, Gaeltacht and Marine Affairs. McHugh set up a full-time constituency office in Letterkenny. When he was selected as the Dáil candidate for Donegal North-East, he moved into a new constituency office, which was officially opened by Fine Gael party leader Enda Kenny on 6 October 2006.
Dáil Éireann
McHugh topped the poll Donegal North-East at the 2007 general election with 22.6% of the first preference vote. His wife Olwyn Enright also won re-election to the Dáil, making them the third married couple to sit in the same Dáil. McHugh was appointed party deputy Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and the Department of the Taoiseach, with special responsibility for North-South Co-operation in October 2007. McHugh was re-elected to the Dáil at the 2011 general election, attaining 19.3% of the first-preference vote. In January 2011, McHugh called for a monument, funded by the government, in Donegal, dedicated to the founding of the Ulster Volunteer Force in 1912. McHugh was criticised by Eileen Doherty, a sister of Donegal County Councillor Eddie Fullerton, who was assassinated by loyalists in 1991. Doherty claimed McHugh and other Fine Gael councillors in Donegal had snubbed a number of commemorative events and opposed the building of a monument in Fullerton's memory in Buncrana. Fullerton was the third elected official in the Republic of Ireland to be assassinated. In Manchester in October 2011, McHugh became the first Fine Gael TD to address delegates from the British Conservative Party. He described it as an "opportunity." On 15 July 2014, he was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, with responsibility for Gaeltacht Affairs and Natural Resources. His appointment was met with criticism as his knowledge of the Irish language was at a basic level, although he subsequently received praise for his efforts to improve his language skills to the point where he could conduct lengthy interviews in the language. RTÉ Radio 1 created the radio documentary Fine Gaeilgeoir, narrated and produced by Máire Treasa Ní Cheallaigh, following McHugh's efforts to improve his Irish over the course of a year. The appointment of a non-Irish speaker to a Gaeltacht ministry has since become known as a "Joe McHugh moment", with Shane Ross having written of having his own in May 2016. In February 2016, McHugh was heavily criticised for allocating 93% of Gaeltacht grants to the Donegal Gaeltacht, which is located in and beside his constituency. This revelation led to calls for McHugh to appear before the Dáil Public Accounts Committee to explain such a disproportionate allocation of funding. McHugh subsequently denied the claims. At the 2016 general election, McHugh was elected to the new five-seater Donegal constituency on the 11th count. The following May, he met Charles, Prince of Wales, and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, during their day visit to the county. The couple's visit to Glenveagh National Park during the trip is accredited with driving up visitor numbers to record levels in 2017. He was appointed as Minister for Education and Skills on 16 October 2018. He was not re-appointed to the Government of the 33rd Dáil in June 2020, and declined the offer of a junior ministerial role.
Personal life
In July 2005, McHugh married Olwyn Enright, who served as a Fine Gael TD for Laois–Offaly from 2002 to 2011. They have three children.
