Matt Shanahan (politician)


Matt Shanahan is an Irish Independent politician who has been a Teachta Dála for the Waterford constituency since the 2020 general election.

Personal and business life

Shanahan's parents were a doctor and a home economics teacher. He attended St Augustine's College, Dungarvan. He worked for Dawn Meats and in the United States before studying marketing in Dublin and moving back to Waterford.
In 2004, Shanahan founded Velocity Media, a Waterford-based mobile billboard company. He has also done consultancy in digital marketing and advising small businesses on applying for state and EU grants.
Shanahan and his wife Elaine have three children. He has coached underage hurling at Ballygunner GAA.

Political career

According to the Irish Independent, Shanahan has "strong Fine Gael ties". In 2012, he founded South East Hospitals Action Alliance, an advocacy group to protest downgrading of Waterford Regional Hospital in the 2012 budget. In 2016, he founded Health Equality For the South East, to improve UHW cardiology services with a second cath lab and 24/7 percutaneous coronary intervention capability. In December 2018, Mary Roche, an independent Waterford City and County Councillor resigned her seat in the Waterford City East local electoral area. She nominated Shanahan to replace her. Such a recommendation is honoured by convention rather than statutory obligation, and on 10 January 2019 the remaining councillors duly voted 25–5 on to co-opt Shanahan to Roche's vacant seat. He retained his seat in the 2019 local elections, topping the poll, and commenting, "it's not a strong vote for Matt Shanahan, it's a strong vote on the whole hospital issue here in the South-East".
On 14 January 2020, Shanahan announced he would be standing in the general election to be held on 8 February. While The Irish Times said he was 'seen as the single-issue "hospital candidate"', Shanahan also mentioned university status for Waterford Institute of Technology and "the increasing inequality glaringly apparent between economic measures and development in the South East versus similar city regions in Ireland". He was elected on the seventh count.

Citations