McHugh is a past pupil of
St Comhghall's Secondary School in
Lisnaskea. He was elected, as a
Sinn Féin member, onto
Fermanagh District Council at the
1993 local elections, representing the
Erne East District. He was elected to the
Enniskillen District at the
1997 local elections. He was elected to the
Northern Ireland Forum in 1996, then to the
Northern Ireland Assembly at the
1998 election as a Sinn Féin member for
Fermanagh and South Tyrone. He lost his seat in
2003, but regained it in
2007. His fellow Sinn Féin member on both occasions was
Michelle Gildernew. He became an independent on 29 November 2007, citing his perceived problems with lack of democracy in his former party. On 30 November 2009, he announced that he was a member of
Fianna Fáil. However, he was not allowed represent the party in Stormont nor sit on a Council for them and did not contest the
2011 Assembly election accordingly. Instead McHugh stood as an independent in Erne East at the
2011 local elections, but was not elected. On 2 February 2019
The Impartial Reporter reported that McHugh had joined
Aontú, a new
pro-life nationalist party founded by
Peadar Tóibín. In the
May 2019 local election, he was the party's candidate stood in the six-seat Erne East
District Electoral Area for
Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, finishing last of ten candidates. ==References==