{"id":569929,"date":"2026-07-27T06:13:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T06:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/569929\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T06:13:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T06:13:19","slug":"some-tds-predict-jennifer-carroll-macneill-is-likely-future-fine-gael-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/569929\/","title":{"rendered":"Some TDs predict Jennifer Carroll MacNeill is likely future Fine Gael leader"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has emerged as the frontrunner to be the next leader of Fine Gael when the time comes.<\/p>\n<p>However, there is no imminent pressure on T\u00e1naiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris.<\/p>\n<p>Fine Gael sources, speaking anonymously, told BreakingNews.ie that Carroll MacNeill&#8217;s performance as Minister for Health has impressed colleagues, and that she is &#8220;a party leader in waiting&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The TDs were Leinster-based.<\/p>\n<p>She is highly thought of in the party, and is known to have ambitions to be taoiseach one day.<\/p>\n<p>Fellow TDs, advisers, and staff at the Department of Health all speak highly of Carroll MacNeill.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;She&#8217;s a real politician, in a good way,&#8221; one source said, when speaking about the possibility of her being a future party leader.<\/p>\n<p>Carroll MacNeill was elected to D\u00fan Laoghaire\u2013Rathdown County Council in 2019, and she was elected to the D\u00e1il in 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" height=\"654\" width=\"953\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/some-tds-predict-jennifer-carroll-macneill-is-likely-future-fine-gael-leader.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1931771 size-full aligncenter fixed-width-container\"\/><\/p>\n<p> Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has emerged as the frontrunner to be the next leader of Fine Gael when the time comes. Phot: Niall Carson\/PA Images<\/p>\n<p>Her career has since been on the rise. She served as a junior minister in the departments of Foreign Affairs and Finance, and was then rewarded with a Cabinet position.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"not-prose no-underline\" data-action=\"click\" data-category=\"Read more article clicked\" data-label=\"https:\/\/www.breakingnews.ie\/ireland\/burnhams-electricity-vat-cut-could-put-pressure-on-martin-amid-cost-of-living-pressures-1930126.html\" data-value=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.breakingnews.ie\/ireland\/burnhams-electricity-vat-cut-could-put-pressure-on-martin-amid-cost-of-living-pressures-1930126.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/pa-84710923-e1784660356523.jpg\" class=\"rounded-sm object-contain bg-transparent z-10 w-full h-full not-prose\" alt=\"Burnham'S Electricity Vat Cut Could Put Pressure On Martin Amid Cost-Of-Living Pressures\" width=\"278\" height=\"156\" \/><\/p>\n<p>        Ireland<\/p>\n<p>Burnham&#8217;s electricity VAT cut could put pressure on Martin amid cost-of-living pressures<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Health can be a poisoned chalice, but Carroll MacNeill has acquitted herself well in the position.<\/p>\n<p>She is one of the most recognisable faces in government, and is a good communicator, something which her Cabinet colleagues have recognised.<\/p>\n<p>The sources stressed that Harris has the full support of the party, and there is certainly not a chance of any change before the taoiseach rotation in November 2027, when he will take over from Miche\u00e1l Martin.<\/p>\n<p>However, things can change quickly in politics, and whenever the time comes for a new Fine Gael leader, Carroll MacNeill looks best-placed to emerge as the frontrunner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has emerged as the frontrunner to be the next leader of Fine&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569930,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-569929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}