John Paul Phelan Politician

John Paul Phelan (born 27 September 1978) is an Irish Fine Gael politician. He was elected in 2002 to Seanad Éireann by the Agricultural Panel, the youngest member of the 22nd Seanad, and was re-elected in 2007. He was the Fine Gael Seanad spokesperson on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, having previously held the portfolio of Seanad spokesperson on Finance. He was elected as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Carlow–Kilkenny constituency at the 2011 general election.Phelan attended national school in Listerlin, County Kilkenny, and Good Counsel College secondary school in New Ross before graduating from Waterford Institute of Technology with an Economics and Finance degree. He was elected to Kilkenny County Council in 1999 for the Piltown electoral area, the youngest person ever elected to that council. In the 2007 general election, he was beaten for the last seat by Mary White of the Green Party. He was a candidate at the 2009 European Parliament election for the East constituency but was not elected. At the 2011 general election, he topped the poll.Phelan sits on the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Law and Defence. He is one of the Irish delegates sitting on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and is an Irish representative on the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly. He was critical of the Government decision to change the rules regarding the Domiciliary Care Allowance its effect on families of children with Autism. On 10 November 2012, Phelan took part in the "Save our Services" protest march in Waterford.