Patrick James Mara (1 February 1942 – 15 January 2016) was an Irish public affairs consultant and politician who served as Senator from July 1981 to October 1981 and May 1982 to December 1982.
[2] He was a member of the board of Digicel, the company founded by Denis O'Brien to build mobile networks in the Caribbean.
He was regularly lampooned on the satirical Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) radio sketch show Scrap Saturday, which ran from 1989 to 1991.
He was educated at O'Connell's Richmond Street, and at Coláiste Mhuire, an Irish-language Christian Brothers secondary school (Gaelscoil) on Parnell Square.
Mara started becoming actively involved in politics in his late 20s, having come from a family background of support for Fianna Fáil.
His attempts at a non-political entrepreneurial career were sidelined by his political aspirations, including his carpet sales business, which failed.
When Haughey came back from the political wilderness in the late 1970s, Mara helped to secure support for him in the 1979 leadership election of the party.
In 1982, despite having no previous experience in public relations, Mara was appointed press secretary for Fianna Fáil by Haughey.
He made innovations in how to operate public relations for the party, including holding opposition press briefings.
Mara married Breda Brogan from Kinvara, County Galway, who was a model and later an entrepreneur, setting up a clothing wholesales company which was later bought out by Penney's.