Europe minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill opens up on taoiseach ambitions, harassment of TDs, and… the cannabis question

Speaking about the lack of female representation in senior Cabinet roles, Ms Carroll MacNeill said: “We’ve never had a woman minister for finance! We’ve never had a woman minister for foreign affairs. We’ve never had a woman Taoiseach.

"That’s three senior positions where we haven’t had women. Are women not relevant to those conversations?”

Today's News in 90 seconds - 10th May 2024

Ms Carroll MacNeill served as Minister of State at the Department of Finance from December 2022 until last month, when she was appointed Minister of State for European Affairs after Simon Harris became Taoiseach.

Like many of her colleagues in Fine Gael, the Dún Laoghaire TD ruled out the prospect of entering government with Sinn Féin.

“I don’t think they function like a normal political party. And I really see difficulty with Sinn Féin not finding, within themselves, the capacity to condemn the people who committed violence,” she said.

“I still see celebrations and commemorations of the people who committed such violence. I still see families of the disappeared begging Sinn Féin representatives for help in finding the bodies.”

In 2022, a man from Co Limerick was given a one-year suspended sentence for harassment for sending unsolicited messages and sexually explicit videos to Ms Carroll MacNeill while she was campaigning for the 2020 general election, which she said left her with a “cold sense of dread”.

Speaking about the topic of abuse and harassment of public representatives, said she worries about a “random” attack on a politician happening in Ireland and the murders of sitting UK MPs Jo Cox and Sir David Amess were both random.

“What I worry about is the random attack. I’ve seen colleagues who have had [heated] people coming into their constituency offices, who have had things thrown at them at public events,” she said.

“We just need one of those to go too far and it becomes incredibly serious. And that’s what I’d be most worried about for politicians.”

Ms Carroll MacNeill serves as a member of the Task Force on Safe Participation in Political Life. Established by Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl and Cathaoirleach Jerry Buttimer in 2023, the group is working to safeguard participation in political life and particularly the impact abuse of politicians will have on the participation of women and minorities in politics.

“The threat of disinformation, the threat of disruption to democracy, is just as live here as we go into our electoral cycle, as it has been right across all of the other democracies in Europe,” Ms Carroll MacNeill said of the prospect of a cyber attack influencing the upcoming European and local elections.

She said she’s a big fan of Guns N’ Roses and sang alongside Christy Dignam and Aslan in The Point during her time with the Dublin Gospel Choir.

“I sang there with Aslan. Christy Dignam was a beautiful singer. And you might not believe this, but it’s true: Elvis Presley in 2001, in the Elvis Live Tour."

The wide-ranging interview covers several topics including Gaza, Eurovision, and whether she has ever used cannabis, to which she answered: “I can’t be completely responsible for everything I’ve done at four o’clock in the morning that I can’t remember. But I don’t ever remember smoking marijuana, put it that way. Is that a good answer?”

The full six-page interview with Ms Carroll MacNeill can be read in Hot Press, available in stores now