[citation needed] His father was a close friend of Frank Aiken and was imprisoned in the Old Gaol in Dundalk from where members of the Fourth Northern Division escaped during the famous Hole-In-The-Wall breakout.

[2] O'Hanlon entered his first electoral contest when he was the Fianna Fáil candidate in the 1973 Monaghan by-election caused by the election of Erskine Childers to the Presidency.

When Fianna Fáil returned to power after a short-lived Fine Gael-Labour Party government in 1982, O'Hanlon was once again overlooked for ministerial promotion.

In early 1983, Charles Haughey announced a new front bench and O'Hanlon was promoted to the position of spokesperson on Health and Social Welfare.

Following the 1987 general election, Fianna Fáil were back in power, albeit with a minority government, and O'Hanlon became Minister for Health.

Immediately after taking office, he was confronted with several controversial issues, including the resolution of a radiographers' dispute and the formation of an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign.

While Fianna Fáil campaigned on a platform of not introducing any public spending cuts, the party committed a complete u-turn once in government.

O'Hanlon's handling of the Department of Health meant that he was one of the names tipped for promotion as a result of Ray MacSharry's departure as Minister for Finance.

He was an active chair of the Dáil; however, on occasion, he was criticised, most notably by Labour's Pat Rabbitte, for allegedly stifling debate and being overly protective of the government.