Some TDs predict Jennifer Carroll MacNeill is likely future Fine Gael leader
James Cox
Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has emerged as the frontrunner to be the next leader of Fine Gael when the time comes.
However, there is no imminent pressure on Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris.
Fine Gael sources, speaking anonymously, told BreakingNews.ie that Carroll MacNeill's performance as Minister for Health has impressed colleagues, and that she is "a party leader in waiting".
The TDs were Leinster-based.
She is highly thought of in the party, and is known to have ambitions to be taoiseach one day.
Fellow TDs, advisers, and staff at the Department of Health all speak highly of Carroll MacNeill.
"She's a real politician, in a good way," one source said, when speaking about the possibility of her being a future party leader.
Carroll MacNeill was elected to Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council in 2019, and she was elected to the Dáil in 2020.
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.
Health can be a poisoned chalice, but Carroll MacNeill has acquitted herself well in the position.
She is one of the most recognisable faces in government, and is a good communicator, something which her Cabinet colleagues have recognised.
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 Micheál Martin.
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.
