Helen McEntee | |
|---|---|
 McEntee in 2018 | |
| Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade | |
| Assumed office 18 November 2025 | |
| Taoiseach | Micheál Martin |
| Preceded by | Simon Harris |
| Minister for Defence | |
| Assumed office 18 November 2025 | |
| Taoiseach | Micheál Martin |
| Preceded by | Simon Harris |
| Minister for Education and Youth | |
| In office 23 January 2025 – 18 November 2025 | |
| Taoiseach | Micheál Martin |
| Preceded by | Norma Foley |
| Succeeded by | Hildegarde Naughton |
| Minister for Justice | |
| In office 1 June 2023 – 23 January 2025 | |
| Taoiseach |
|
| Preceded by | Simon Harris |
| Succeeded by | Jim O'Callaghan |
| In office 1 November 2021 – 25 November 2022 | |
| Taoiseach | Micheál Martin |
| Preceded by | Heather Humphreys |
| Succeeded by | Heather Humphreys |
| In office 27 June 2020 – 27 April 2021 | |
| Taoiseach | Micheál Martin |
| Preceded by | Charles Flanagan |
| Succeeded by | Heather Humphreys |
| Deputy leader of Fine Gael | |
| Assumed office 19 October 2024 | |
| Leader | Simon Harris |
| Preceded by | Heather Humphreys |
| Minister of State | |
| 2017–2020 | European Affairs |
| 2016–2017 | Health |
| Teachta Dála | |
| Assumed office March 2013 | |
| Constituency | Meath East |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1986-06-08)8 June 1986 (age 39) |
| Political party | Fine Gael |
| Spouse | |
| Relations |
|
| Children | 2 |
| Parent |
|
| Education | St. Joseph's Secondary School |
| Alma mater | |
| Website | Fine Gael website |
Helen McEntee (born 8 June 1986)[1][2] is an IrishFine Gael politician who has served asMinister for Foreign Affairs and Trade andMinister for Defence since November 2025 anddeputy leader of Fine Gael since October 2024. ATeachta Dála (TD) for theMeath East constituency since 2013, she previously served asMinister for Education and Youth from January to November 2025 andMinister for Justice from 2020 to 2025 and as aminister of state from 2016 to 2020.
The daughter ofShane McEntee, who served as a Fine Gael TD from 2005 until 2012, she completed a degree in economics, politics, and law atDublin City University and a master's degree in journalism and media communications atGriffith College. She began working atLeinster House in 2010 as a personal assistant to her father. Following his suicide in December 2012, she successfully contested the2013 Meath East by-election to replace him; elected at age 26, she became the youngest female TD in the31st Dáil. Re-elected in the2016 general election, she served asMinister of State with responsibility for Mental Health and Older People from 2016 to 2017 and asMinister of State for European Affairs from 2017 to 2020.
After retaining her seat at the2020 general election, she was appointed Minister for Justice in June 2020. She had her first child in April 2021, becoming the first cabinet member in the country's history to give birth or take maternity leave while in office. She had a second child in December 2022. Her justice portfolio was temporarily reassigned toHeather Humphreys andSimon Harris respectively during her two six-month periods ofmaternity leave in 2021 and 2022–2023. Following Humphreys' decision in October 2024 not to contest the next general election, McEntee succeeded her as deputy leader of the party. After retaining her seat at the2024 general election, she was appointed Minister for Education and Youth.
The daughter of Shane and Kathleen McEntee, Helen McEntee is one of four siblings; she has two sisters and a brother.[1][3][4] She is the niece of formerGaelic footballer and prominent surgeonGerry McEntee and of Gaelic football managerAndy McEntee.[5][6] Raised on her family's farm inCastletown-Kilpatrick,County Meath, she attendedSt Joseph's Mercy Secondary School inNavan, where she first developed an interest in politics, and represented her class on the school's student council.[5][7][8] From 2004, she studied economics, politics, and law atDublin City University (DCU), where she helped to re-establish the university's branch ofYoung Fine Gael, which had been inactive for some time.[1][9] After graduating in 2007, she worked for a subsidiary ofCitibank, but returned to higher education in 2010, to complete a master's degree in journalism and media communications atGriffith College.[1][8]
Her father was first elected toDáil Éireann as a Fine GaelTD at the2005 Meath by-election, winning the seat vacated by the resignation of formerTaoiseachJohn Bruton, and was a popular figure with constituents.[10] McEntee began to work inLeinster House as her father's personal assistant in May 2010, while he was an opposition TD.[5][10][11] One of the first issues on which she worked with her father was a campaign on behalf of the owners of several thousand houses damaged by the use ofpyrite, a material used as backfill during construction, that expands when damp or exposed to air.[8] She considered standing as a candidate in the2014 local elections, and discussed the prospect with her father, as well as the possibility of one day succeeding him as a member of the Dáil. She moved with him to theDepartment of Agriculture, Food and the Marine when he was appointedMinister of State after Fine Gael became a party of government following the2011 general election.[5][9][11][12]
Shane McEntee died by suicide on 21 December 2012, his death triggering a by-election.[1] His brother, Gerry, blamedcyberbullying throughsocial media as a contributing factor in his suicide, and opposition politicians who had criticised him for comments he made about grant cuts to respite care.[12] Fine Gael politicianJohn Farrelly also suggested online abuse as a possible cause, but Helen McEntee has rejected this theory since she had managed her father's social media presence and was not aware of any issues.[1][11][13] Speaking toThe Sunday Independent during her campaign to succeed her father as a TD, she said that she did not believe he had intended to kill himself, and that she did not think he was depressed.[14] In 2016, she said that she believes her father was "overworked and stressed. In a very short space of time, things went downhill."[15]
McEntee was selected to stand as the Fine Gael candidate in the Meath East by-election during a party convention held at the Headfort Arms Hotel inKells on 7 March 2013. She was the only nominee whose name went forward to contest the seat and the only woman among eleven candidates in the by-election itself.[1][16] During her campaign, McEntee expressed her wish to continue her father's work while seeking to be "a young fresh voice", and focused on issues such as emigration, employment, and supporting local business.[5][17] She was joined on the campaign trail by TaoiseachEnda Kenny, who was confronted at a supermarket inRatoath by an officer of theGarda Síochána angered at having to accept a pay cut because ofausterity measures introduced by the government.[18] McEntee participated in a televised debate onRTÉ One'sPrimetime on 25 March, along withFianna Fáil candidateThomas Byrne,Labour's Eoin Holmes, andSinn Féin'sDarren O'Rourke.[19]
She was subsequently elected toDáil Éireann in the by-election held on 27 March 2013, defeating Byrne (previously a TD for the constituency) with 9,356 first preference votes compared to 8,002 for Byrne.[20][21][22][23] In retaining the seat for Fine Gael she became the first candidate to win a by-election for the party while in government since Taoiseach Kennysucceeded his father as a TD in 1975.[24] At age 26, McEntee became the second youngest TD (afterSimon Harris) and the youngest female TD in the31st Dáil.[1][25] During the election campaign, Seamus Morris, aSinn FéinNorth Tipperary County Councillor, accused the McEntee family of putting their grief to one side to keep their "snouts in the trough".[26][27] Morris posted the comments onFacebook, but later withdrew them when they were published on the front page of theIrish Daily Mail, and issued an apology; Sinn Féin PresidentGerry Adams called the remarks "entirely inappropriate".[26][27]
McEntee took her seat in the Dáil on 16 April 2013, where she received astanding ovation upon entering the debating chamber, and was welcomed by Taoiseach Kenny, as well as other political leaders.[28] She described taking up the seat vacated by her father as "a huge honour", and said that it was an "emotional day for all the McEntee family".[29] TheIrish Independent later reported that she had "impressed many...[by her] manner and choice of words to the media as she arrived at Leinster House. 'I drove down to the graveside this morning and had a few words. I think he [her father] called into Michael Collins the morning of his first day, so I called into my hero.'"[30] McEntee gave hermaiden speech to the Dáil on 8 May 2013, during a debate about that year'sfodder shortage caused by cold spring weather, praisingAgriculture MinisterSimon Coveney's handling of the issue.[31][32][33] She was subsequently appointed to the Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications, and the Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht.[34]
She spent much of her first term focusing on constituency issues,[35] among them championing the 2013 Pyrite Resolution Act, a €50m compensation scheme for homes affected by the use of pyrite in their construction. She also secured funding for theSlane bypass, as well as increased funding for schools and local community sports projects. In addition, McEntee campaigned for improvements tomobile broadband coverage in Meath and was a vocal supporter of the local agricultural industry. She campaigned for a yes vote in the2015 referendum concerning the legalisation ofsame-sex marriage in the Republic of Ireland, and voted in favour of theproposed abolition ofSeanad Éireann, theupper house of the Irish parliament.[1][7][11][36] Following a random audit of 22 members of theOireachtas in 2014, she was one of five politicians required to repay expenses they had claimed that had been declared ineligible. She described the episode, which resulted in her having to repay €1,675.88 of expenses, as being a result of "human error".[35][37]
McEntee contested the Meath East constituency in the2016 general election, where she was one of two sitting Fine Gael deputies defending Dáil seats.[38][39] Elaine Loughlin of theIrish Examiner noted that despite her relatively short time representing the constituency, McEntee had been "visible on the ground, attending community meetings and events", and suggested she would benefit from this at the forthcoming poll, particularly as she had enjoyed a greater presence than her colleagues.Newstalk radio presenterIvan Yates forecast a win for Fianna Fáil in an area that falls into theDublin commuter belt but felt that McEntee would hold on to her seat because she is from the largely rural north of the constituency.[40][41]
McEntee was re-elected to represent Meath East at the election, held on 26 February.[42] She secured a seat in the Dáil on the eighth count, despite not reaching the 50% quota required under STV rules.[42]
In theaftermath of an election that had produced no overall winner, and as Fine Gael parliamentary party secretary, McEntee voiced her support for a proposed Fine Gael–Fianna Fáil coalition, which had been put forward by Kenny and other senior party figures. The move was backed by Fine Gael's backbench TDs at a meeting on 7 April but rejected by Fianna Fáil. McEntee described the proposal as "an historic offer, representing seismic change in the political landscape".[43][44] She also participated in an internal party inquiry into Fine Gael's poor election performance, as part of a team of TDs who spoke to unsuccessful candidates, but stood down from this position upon her appointment as a junior minister.[45]
Kenny formed aminority government after securing the support of severalIndependent TDs,[46] and on 19 May 2016, appointed McEntee asMinister of State at the Department of Health with responsibility for Mental Health and Older People.[47][48][49][50]
One of her first acts in the post was to help launch anIrish Council for Civil Liberties booklet offering advice to older people on their rights concerning retirement, access to health and community care, pensions, and elder abuse.[51] Shortly after this, she was faced with one of her first major tasks when she was called on to play a role in helping to wind up the affairs ofConsole, a suicide bereavement counselling charity, after the organisation was plunged into crisis by a scandal involving the misuse of funds. McEntee worked with the charity's chief executive to ensure the services it provided would continue to be available.[15] Console's functions were taken over by Pieta House in July 2016.[52]
On 2 June, and in response to a question from Fianna Fáil'sJames Browne about government spending on mental health, McEntee told the Dáil the government was committed to an annual increase in funding; Browne had noted that in 2014, €20 million had been allocated to mental health services rather than the promised €35 million, but McEntee said that €35 million had beenringfenced for 2016 and 2017.[53] Along withMinister for Health Simon Harris, McEntee argued for the restoration of €12 million originally ringfenced for mental health spending that had been diverted to other areas. On 8 June, and as part of a €480m bailout package for health, the government announced that the mental health funding would be restored. Welcoming the decision, McEntee said the money would be used for staff recruitment and to improve services for homeless people, as well as developing perinatal mental health services.[54][55]
On 28 July 2016, the government approved the establishment of a youth mental health task force, a body seeking to increase awareness of mental health issues among children and young people.[56] On 4 August, McEntee announced the make-up of the committee, to be chaired by herself, which would include people from professions such as politics, health, mental health, charities, and sport. She also announced the establishment of a Young Persons’ Reference Group, co-chaired by singerNiall Breslin and mental health adviser Emma Farrell. Speaking about the initiative, McEntee said that its work would "ensure that the voices of our young people are at the core of a more open, more engaging, more supportive national conversation about mental health and wellbeing".[57] The National Taskforce on Youth Mental Health had its inaugural meeting in September.[58]
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AfterLeo Varadkarsucceeded Enda Kenny as Taoiseach in June 2017, McEntee was appointed by thenew government asMinister of State for European Affairs on 20 June,[59] a role that involved negotiations with theUnited Kingdom in its continuingBrexit process.[60][61] Shortly after taking up the position, she travelled with Varadkar toBrussels for aEuropean Council meeting, which included talks withGerman ChancellorAngela Merkel and her team.[62] In September 2017, she addressed a conference at Dublin City University to mark the foundation of the university's Brexit Institute.[63]
In January 2019, Helen McEntee told the BBC theIrish backstop was necessary, because of the UK's red lines on leaving theEuropean single market andEuropean customs union, to avoid a hard Border and protect theNorthern Ireland peace process. She called on the UK to live up to its obligations of theGood Friday Agreement.[64]
McEntee was elected as vice president of theEuropean People's Party (EPP) in November 2019, at the party's Congress inZagreb.
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At thegeneral election in February 2020, McEntee was re-elected in Meath East, taking the second seat after winning 18% of the first preference votes.[65][66] The constituency had been seen as a challenge for Fine Gael, with two TDs (both ministers) trying to hold their seats in a 3-seat constituency as Fine Gael's support dipped. McEntee's colleagueRegina Doherty TD lost her seat toDarren O'Rourke ofSinn Féin.[67]
AfterMicheál Martin formed a new government as Taoiseach in June 2020, McEntee was appointed asMinister for Justice as part ofa coalition government composed ofFianna Fáil,Fine Gael and theGreen Party.[68][69]
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As Minister for Justice, McEntee oversaw the passage of theHarassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020,[70] which had been introduced in 2017 as aprivate member's bill byLabour leaderBrendan Howlin, following the death of a 21-year-old girl who took her own life after she was bullied on social media. The act makes online harassment and the sharing of personal, intimate images (includingrevenge porn) a criminal offence.[71]
In December 2020, McEntee announced the government's plans to introduce newhate speech legislation in Ireland.[72] She sponsored the subsequent Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022, which passed Dáil Éireann in April 2023,[73] but was later stalled in the Seanad amid concerns about its potential impact on privacy andfreedom of speech.[74][75] The proposed bill drew criticism within Ireland and internationally, including fromElon Musk, who promised that his social media companyX would finance legal challenges to the proposed laws if they are introduced.[76] Senior Fine Gael politiciansCharlie Flanagan andMichael Ring later called for the legislation to be reconsidered or scrapped.[77][74] Fianna Fáil TDWillie O'Dea called for his party to abandon the hate speech bill, describing it as “playing to thewoke gallery”.[78] McEntee said that people had "valid concerns" about the legislation that she would address.[74]
On 27 April 2021, the Department of Justice was reassigned temporarily toHeather Humphreys as McEntee began six months' maternity leave. McEntee remained in the Cabinet as aminister without portfolio. She was reassigned to the Department of Justice on 1 November 2021.[79][80][81][82] Following the high-profilemurder of Ashling Murphy in January 2022, in which a 23-year-old primary school teacher was stabbed to death inTullamore, McEntee promised a new "zero tolerance" approach to gender-based violence in Ireland. She implemented a five-year, €363 million strategy to combat domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.[83] In December 2022, following Leo Varadkar's appointment as Taoiseach,Simon Harris became Minister for Justice to facilitate a second period of six months' maternity leave.[84] McEntee returned to office on 1 June 2023.[85] She faced criticism over public safety the following month, after teenage boys in Dublin city centre attacked a 57-year-old tourist fromBuffalo, New York, inflicting life-changing injuries.[86] Following the attack, theUS Embassy in Dublin warned Americans visiting Ireland to keep a low profile and avoid walking alone.[87] Insisting that Dublin city was safe for tourists, McEntee stated that she felt safe in the city, but she also confirmed that the government was failing to reach its recruitment targets for theGarda Síochána.[88]
Opposition parties called on McEntee to resign following the November2023 Dublin riot. Sinn Féin leaderMary Lou McDonald suggested that McEntee should step down due to what she called the minister's "unacceptable failure" to keep the public safe.Social Democrats TDGary Gannon also called for McEntee's resignation, terming the riots a "grotesque failure [that] shouldn't go without accountability and consequence."[89] However, McEntee insisted she would not resign, stating: "I am absolutely committed to my work in making sure that I support the gardaí and the commissioner in responding to these mindless thugs."[90] On 6 December 2023, a no-confidence motion in McEntee was tabled by Sinn Féin and countered with a government motion expressing confidence in the minister. The government's confidence motion was passed, by 83 votes to 63.[91]
Following Leo Varadkkar's March 2024 announcement that he would step down as Taoiseach and party leader, McEntee was seen as a potential successor, but ruled herself out of the race.[92] She remained as Minister for Justice afterSimon Harris became Taoiseach on 9 April.[93] McEntee was subsequently tasked with drawing up legislation to return recently arrived asylum seekers to the UK following the UK Parliament's passage of theSafety of Rwanda Bill, which proposes sending asylum seekers who arrive in the UK to Rwanda, and when it emerged that 80% of recent migrant arrivals in Ireland were from the UK.[94] McEntee faced criticism over her handling of issues relating toasylum seekers, with some commentators suggesting that she was unprepared to handle the issue.[95] On 30 April, Cabinet approved legislation drawn up by McEntee that would re-designate the UK as a "safe country" to which asylum seekers can be returned.[96]
On 19 October 2024, and following the announcement byHeather Humphreys, thedeputy leader of Fine Gael, that she would not contest thenext general election, McEntee was appointed to replace her as deputy leader bySimon Harris.[97][98]
On 23 January 2025, she was appointed asMinister for Education and Youth by newly elected TaoiseachMicheál Martin.[99] On 18 November 2025, she was appointed asMinister for Foreign Affairs and Trade andMinister for Defence.[100] She is the state's first female Minister for Foreign Affairs and the first female Minister for Defence.[101]
McEntee has sought to raise awareness of suicide-related issues since her father's death, and in 2013 joined the launch of a suicide prevention campaign by the Pieta House charity, aimed at educating rural communities about the early warning signs of suicide.[102] She also took part in a sponsored walk from Dublin to Navan for the See the Light campaign, which seeks to raise awareness of mental health issues.[11] However, she told theIrish Independent that she does not want the focus to be on her father's death every time she attends a suicide prevention event.[103]
Following the publication of a 2016 interdepartmental report into the issue of mental health in the justice system, McEntee stated her belief that it is unacceptable to send people with mental health issues to prison and that this is an issue that must be tackled by the government.[104] She also believes the government should address concerns about the mental health of unemployed young people.[105]
During the 2016 general election campaign, McEntee expressed concern that the area around theNewgrange ancient monument, which is in her constituency, risked becoming a "dead zone" due to restrictive planning provisions applicable in the vicinity, which can limit permission to build homes and facilities.[106] She supports the teaching of politics in schools, as well as lowering thevoting age to 16. She also believes more women should be encouraged to go into politics, and as a minister has spoken of her support for the idea ofgender quotas as a way of increasing the number of female politicians.[107][108] She favours the option of extending the Fair Deal scheme to include home care.[109] Michael Brennan, of theIrish Independent has described McEntee's support of small food business as "one of the brightest stories to come out of the recession".[103] On the UK's Brexit process, McEntee has spoken of the importance of building certainty between the UK and EU: "We must deal with the past and lay the foundations of a trusting relationship before we can build the future".[63]
McEntee supported and campaigned for the introduction ofsame-sex marriage in Ireland in 2015, calling thereferendum "an opportunity to show the world that we treat all our citizens as equals".[110] She also supported therepeal of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, which legalised abortion in Ireland.[111]
McEntee is married to Paul Hickey, who she first met while he was working at Dáil Éireann as a parliamentary assistant to fellow Fine Gael politicianJoe McHugh. Hickey proposed to McEntee in January 2016, and the couple were married at St Patrick's Church, Castletown-Kilpatrick, on 7 August 2017.[112][113][114]
On 5 December 2020, McEntee announced that she and her husband were expecting their first child. This led to discussions around the lack of parental leave for Irish politicians.[115][116][117] She gave birth to a boy in April 2021, making her the first Irish cabinet minister to give birth while in office.[118][119] On 20 June 2022, McEntee announced that she and her husband were expecting their second child.[120] She gave birth to a boy in December 2022.[121]
Media related toHelen McEntee at Wikimedia Commons
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| New office | Minister of State at the Department of Health 2016–2017 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of State for European Affairs 2017–2020 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded byas Justice and Equality | Minister for Justice Nov. 2020 – Apr. 2021 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Justice Nov. 2021–Jan. 2025 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Education and Youth Jan.–Nov. 2025 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade 2025–present | Incumbent |
| Minister for Defence 2025–present | ||
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Deputy leader of Fine Gael 2024–present | Incumbent |
Helen McEntee navigational boxes | |||||
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