His older brother, Joseph MacManus, was an IRA volunteer who was killed in Belleek, County Fermanagh, in February 1992.

[2][3] He was born in London, but in late 1976 the family returned to Ireland to live in Sligo town.

He was co-opted in March 2017 to replace his father Seán MacManus, and retained the seat at the 2019 Sligo County Council election.

In the former capacity, he is a shadow rapporteur for The Left on the 2020/21 reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.

He is also a member of the EU Delegations for relations with South Africa and with Palestine.