Joe McHugh (born 16 July 1971) is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has served as Chair of the Committee on European Union Affairs since September 2020. He has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Donegal constituency since 2016, and previously from 2007 to 2016 for the Donegal North-East constituency. He served as Minister for Education and Skills from 2018 to 2020 and as a Minister of State from 2014 to 2018, including as Government Chief Whip from 2017 to 2018. He was a Senator for the Administrative Panel from 2002 and 2007. In May 2022, McHugh announced that he would not stand at the next general election. Early life 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. 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. In 1996, he returned to Ireland and became a youth worker in the Ballyboe area of Letterkenny. Political career Donegal County Council McHugh won a seat in the Milford local electoral area in the 1999 Donegal County Council election. Seanad Éireann He was elected to Seanad Éireann as a Senator 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.