Southsiders feature in new Cabinet

Two Southsiders will feature in Micheál Martin’s new Cabinet.

Dublin Bay South TD Jim O’Callaghan and Dún Laoghaire TD Jennifer Carroll MacNeill will serve in the Cabinet as Minister for Justice and Minister for Health respectively. 

O’Callaghan served as Fianna Fáil’s spokesperson on justice over the course of the last government, while Carroll MacNeill established herself as a rising star in the party since being first elected in 2020.

O’Callaghan was widely regarded as the favourite to take on the Minister for Justice brief owing to his barrister background; he will replace Fine Gael’s Helen McEntee in the role who will now serve as Minister for Education.

Carroll MacNeill was made a Minister of State for European affairs in April 2024 following Simon Harris’ appointment as Taoiseach and served as Minister of State at the Department of Finance following Leo Varadkar’s return as Taoiseach in December 2022 and the subsequent Cabinet reshuffle that ensued.

Legal eagle O’Callaghan was first elected to the Dáil in 2016 with his victory in Dublin Bay South an indication that leafy suburban Dublin had largely forgiven Fianna Fáil for their role in the 2008 economic downturn; last November’s general election was a clear indication that the feeling was shared among the wider Irish electorate.

In an interview with RTÉ earlier in January, O’Callaghan said he wished to continue the government’s existing policy of increasing supports for female victims of domestic violence.

He said that Ireland “needs to introduce legislation where women can access information if they’re in a new relationship with somebody, to see if their partner has a history of violence against a former partner.”

During the election campaign, O’Callaghan called for the Metrolink to be expanded to Portobello, Harold’s Cross, and Terenure.

During public hearings for the Metrolink project in February 2024 O’Callaghan voiced his opposition to a Metrolink station being built in Charlemont, saying “I am simply suggesting that it terminates in the city centre so we will have the option in future of extending it to the South West of the city. If it goes to Charlemont that option won’t be available.”

O’Callaghan will have the opportunity to bring the issue up in-house; former Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien has been named as the new Minister for Transport.

O’Brien will succeed Eamon Ryan in the role.

O’Callaghan had spoken during the election campaign about wanting to introduce European-style transport police on public transport, a campaign promise that ended up in the Programme for Government.

Despite rumours that O’Callaghan was going to be named Attorney General, Rossa Fanning will remain in the role.

O’Callaghan had designs on the Fianna Fáil leadership, openly stating in 2020 that he would like to succeed Micheál Martin as leader.

Martin named O’Callaghan as director of elections for Fianna Fáil in the July 2021 by-election in Dublin Bay South, an election that was ultimately won by future Labour leader (and fellow legal eagle) Ivana Bacik.

O’Callaghan’s performance as director of elections was widely criticised as Fianna Fáil’s candidate Deirdre Conroy received just 4.6% of first preferences. 

However, O’Callaghan’s performance in the 2024 general election in Dublin Bay South was his best performance yet on a ballot paper; he received 13.9% of first preferences and received the second highest amount of preferences overall once transfers were factored in.

Carroll MacNeill is the only Dublin woman in the Cabinet and one of three women overall in the Cabinet; Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore noted that there are as many men named James in the Cabinet as there are women.

The Dún Laoghaire TD was elected on the first count last November and Dún Laoghaire’s reputation as a Fine Gael stronghold was restored.

In the 2020 general election, Carroll MacNeill was the only Fine Gael TD elected in the seat but a strong set of local results last June which saw the party win 16 of 40 seats on Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Council proved to be a positive omen for a general election campaign.

With 21% of first preferences, Carroll MacNeill got elected on the first count and the brand was strong enough to get Senator Barry Ward elected to the Dáil.

Two Fine Gael seats in Dún Laoghaire came at the expense of former Green minister Ossian Smyth, who will find out this week if his bid for a Seanad seat was successful.

Carroll MacNeill joins O’Callaghan in taking on a brief which proved controversial over the course of the last government – she will become Minister for Health.

She said taking on the role was a “huge honour,” and pledged to “work hard” in her new role.

Despite Fianna Fáil’s overall success, Stephen Donnelly losing his seat as Minister for Health was the Portillo moment of the 2024 general election campaign.

Donnelly was regarded as relatively progressive on the issue of reproductive healthcare, but his general unpopularity (along with constituency redraws) saw him become the big Cabinet casualty of the 2024 general election alongside Catherine Martin of the Greens.

During her time as Minister of State for European affairs and defence, Carroll MacNeill said that Ireland needs to “double” its military spending to €3 billion a year.

The Minister for Defence role will go to her party colleague and former Taoiseach Simon Harris.

Harris will get another chance to become Taoiseach in November 2027 when Micheál Martin’s second stint as Taoiseach ends as part of the coalition agreement.

Despite taking the best part of two months to form a government, the new government voted to give itself a two-week break to allow the new ministers time to get familiar with the new roles.

Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty said, “we have not had a functioning government and haven’t been able to hold ministers to account for over three months now.”