Beginnings O'Hanlon entered his first electoral contest when he was the
Fianna Fáil candidate in the
1973 Monaghan by-election caused by the election of
Erskine Childers to the
Presidency. He was unsuccessful on this occasion but was elected at the
1977 general election in
Cavan–Monaghan. O'Hanlon was one of a handful of new Fianna Fáil deputies who were elected in that landslide victory for the party and, as a new TD, he remained on the backbenches. Two years later he became a member of
Monaghan County Council, serving on that authority until 1987. In 1979,
Jack Lynch suddenly resigned as
Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fáil. The
subsequent leadership election resulted in a straight contest between
Charles Haughey and
George Colley. The latter had the backing of the majority of the existing cabinet, however, a backbench revolt saw Haughey become Taoiseach. O'Hanlon had supported Colley and was thus overlooked for appointment to the new ministerial and junior ministerial positions. Despite this, he did become a member of the powerful Public Accounts Committee in the
Oireachtas. When Fianna Fáil returned to power after a short-lived
Fine Gael-
Labour Party government in 1982, O'Hanlon was once again overlooked for ministerial promotion. An extensive cabinet reshuffle towards the end of the year saw O'Hanlon become
Minister of State for Social Welfare Payments. His tenure was short-lived as the government fell a few weeks later and Fianna Fáil were out of power.
Government minister In early 1983, Charles Haughey announced a new
front bench and O'Hanlon was promoted to the position of spokesperson on Health and Social Welfare. Following the
1987 general election, Fianna Fáil were back in power, albeit with a
minority government, and O'Hanlon became
Minister for Health. Immediately after taking office, he was confronted with several controversial issues, including the resolution of a radiographers' dispute and the formation of an
HIV/AIDS awareness campaign. While Fianna Fáil campaigned on a platform of not introducing any public spending cuts, the party committed a complete
u-turn once in government. The savage cuts about healthcare earned O'Hanlon the nickname "Dr. Death". Despite earning this reputation, O'Hanlon also introduced a law to curb smoking in public places. O'Hanlon's handling of the
Department of Health meant that he was one of the names tipped for promotion as a result of
Ray MacSharry's departure as
Minister for Finance. In the end, he was retained as Minister for Health and was disappointed not to be given a new portfolio following the
1989 general election. In 1991, O'Hanlon became
Minister for the Environment. This was following
Albert Reynolds's failed leadership challenge against Charles Haughey. He succeeded
Pádraig Flynn who had been part of the challenge to Haughey. When Reynolds succeeded as Taoiseach in 1992, O'Hanlon was one of several high-profile members of the cabinet who lost their ministerial positions.
Post-cabinet career In 1995, O'Hanlon became chair of the Fianna Fáil
parliamentary party before being elected
Leas-Cheann Comhairle (deputy chair) of
Dáil Éireann in 1997. Following the
2002 general election, O'Hanlon became
Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann. In this position, he was required to remain neutral and, as such, he was no longer classed as a representative of any political party. He was an active chair of the Dáil; however, on occasion, he was criticised, most notably by Labour's
Pat Rabbitte, for allegedly stifling debate and being overly protective of the government. Following the
2007 general election, he was succeeded as Ceann Comhairle by
John O'Donoghue. He was the vice-chair of the Joint
Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs. He retired from politics at the
2011 general election. ==Personal life and death==