Jim O'Callaghan

James O'Callaghan (born 5 January 1968) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Bay South constituency since the 2016 general election.

He unsuccessfully ran as a candidate for Fianna Fáil in the 2007 general election in Dublin South-East and had previously been a member of Dublin City Council from 2009 to 2016.^[1]

O'Callaghan holds degrees in law and criminology from University College Dublin, Cambridge University and King's Inn. A barrister by profession, O'Callaghan has served as Legal Adviser to the Fianna Fáil Party since January 2011. He became a senior counsel in 2008 and has represented many high-profile clients in defamation cases, including Louis Walsh, Julia Kushnir, Gerry Kelly MLA, Ivan Yates, Jim Higgins, Denis O'Brien, Justin Timberlake, Rosanna Davison and Tulisa Contostavlos. He has also appeared in two of Ireland's largest commercial court disputes: Fyffes v DCC and Menolly Homes v Irish Asphalt Limited.

He played rugby at a senior level, representing UCD, Cambridge University, London Irish, Wanderers, Leinster and Connacht. He was also capped for Ireland at under-21 level.

He is also a brother of RTÉ television personality Miriam O'Callaghan.^[2]

He represented Fianna Fáil in talks on government formation in 2016.^[3] Early on 9 April 2016, O'Callaghan's home hosted a covert meeting between O'Callaghan, Leo Varadkar, Deirdre Gillane (chief adviser of Micheál Martin) and Andrew McDowell (a policy adviser of Enda Kenny). It lasted for more than an hour.^[4]

On the 19 May 2016, he was appointed by the Leader of the Opposition Micheál Martin to the Fianna Fáil front bench as Opposition Spokesperson for Justice and Equality.

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