Lahart is from
Ballyroan, County Dublin where he was educated at Scoil an Spiorad Naomhin[3] and then by the
Christian Brothers at
Coláiste Éanna.[4] After training as a teacher at the
Mater Dei Institute of Education, he taught at Ballinteer Community School from 1995 to 2000.[4] Lahart also received a master's degree from Mater Dei in 1996.[3] In 2007, he was awarded a
BSc in Counselling and Psychotherapy.[3]
He later lived in
Knocklyon, working as a psychotherapist in private practice.[5] He was a member of the Irish Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists (IACP).[3]
Political career
Lahart joined Fianna Fáil in 1983, after being encouraged by
Séamus Brennan TD to get involved in the party.[5]
From 1992 to 1994 and from 2000 to 2007, Lahart was a special adviser to
Tom Kitt, the Fianna Fáil TD for
Dublin South.[4] He was a member of
South Dublin County Council from 1999 to 2016,[5][6] and served as leader of the Fianna Fáil group on the council.[7]
In October 2014, Lahart was the unsuccessful Fianna Fáil candidate in the
Dublin South-West by-election, winning only 8.6% of the
first preference votes (FPV).[8] He was seen as having fought a good campaign, and performed well in two televised debates.[9] Lahart described the challenge of getting known in the constituency,[10] and in 2015 Fianna Fáil leader
Micheál Martin explained the by-election as part of a medium term plan of building a "platform" for the 2016 general election.[11]
The
next general election was held in February 2016, when Lahart topped the poll with 14.3% of the FPV.[12] He was the first candidate to be elected, on the 11th count, becoming Dublin South-West's first Fianna Fáil TD since the defeat of both
Charlie O'Connor and
Conor Lenihan at the
2011 general election. Emma Murphy was co-opted to fill the seat on South Dublin County Council which had been automatically vacated on his election to the
Dáil.[6]