Paschal Donohoe

Paschal Donohoe TD
Minister for Finance
Incumbent
Assumed office 14 June 2017
Taoiseach	Leo Varadkar Micheál Martin
Preceded by	Michael Noonan
President of the Eurogroup
Incumbent
Assumed office 13 July 2020
Preceded by	Mário Centeno
Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
In office 6 May 2016 – 27 June 2020
Taoiseach	Enda Kenny Leo Varadkar
Preceded by	Brendan Howlin
Succeeded by	Michael McGrath
Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport
In office 11 July 2014 – 6 May 2016
Taoiseach	Enda Kenny
Preceded by	Leo Varadkar
Succeeded by	Shane Ross
Minister of State for European Affairs
In office 12 July 2013 – 11 July 2014
Taoiseach	Enda Kenny
Preceded by	Lucinda Creighton
Succeeded by	Dara Murphy
Teachta Dála
Incumbent
Assumed office February 2011
Constituency	Dublin Central
Senator
In office 24 July 2007 – 25 February 2011
Constituency	Administrative Panel
Personal details
Born	(1974-09-19) 19 September 1974 Phibsborough, Dublin, Ireland
Political party	Fine Gael
Spouse	Justine Davey (m. 2001)
Children	2
Alma mater	Trinity College Dublin
Website	paschaldonohoe.ie

Paschal Donohoe (born 19 September 1974) is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has served as Minister for Finance since June 2017 and President of the Eurogroup since July 2020. He has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Central constituency since 2011. He previously served as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform from 2016 to 2020, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport from 2014 to 2016 and Minister of State for European Affairs from 2013 to 2014.

After an initial period on the backbenches, Donohoe was appointed Minister of State for European Affairs, following the resignation of Lucinda Creighton. A year later he was promoted to cabinet as Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport.

Following the formation of a Fine Gael minority government in May 2016, Donohoe was appointed Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. In June 2017, after Leo Varadkar succeeded Enda Kenny as Taoiseach, Varadkar appointed Donohoe as Minister for Finance. He was reappointed as Minister for Finance by Micheál Martin in a coalition government of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party.

Early life

Donohoe was born in Phibsborough, Dublin, in 1974. He is the son of a Stena Line employee who also worked renting marquees and tents. He was educated at St. Declan's CBS in Cabra, before receiving a scholarship to Trinity College Dublin. He studied Politics and Economics and graduated with a first-class honours degree. He served as Secretary of the University Philosophical Society, a debating and paper-reading society.

From Trinity College, Donohoe was selected by the multinational company Procter & Gamble in the UK, for their fast-track graduate training programme. He spent six years working in the United Kingdom and became director of sales and marketing. In 2003, he returned to Ireland to pursue a career in politics.

Political career

Donohoe was first elected to Dublin City Council in 2004, for the Cabra-Glasnevin local electoral area. During this time he was Chairperson of the Central Area Committee, Chairperson of the Environmental Strategic Policy Committee and a member of the City Corporate Policy Committee.

He was an unsuccessful candidate at the 2007 general election in the Dublin Central constituency, but was elected to Seanad Éireann as a Senator for the Administrative Panel in July 2007. He was appointed in October 2007, as Fine Gael Seanad Spokesperson on Transport and the Marine. He was a member of the Joint Oireachtas committee on Transport and the Joint Oireachtas committee on European Affairs.

He was appointed Chairman of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Ireland's Future in Europe, by Enda Kenny, in October 2008. On 24 March 2009, he was nominated by Fine Gael to run in the Dublin Central by-election, caused by the death of Tony Gregory, but he was unsuccessful in this election. He topped the poll at the 2011 general election and was elected on the 2nd count.

In government

Minister of State for European Affairs (2013–2014)

Following the resignation of Lucinda Creighton, who had broken the government whip in a vote on the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill, Donohoe was appointed as Minister of State for European Affairs on 12 July 2013.

Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport (2014–2016)

On 11 July 2014, Donohoe was promoted to the cabinet, as Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, a position he held until 6 May 2016.

During his tenure he oversaw the sale of the Government's remaining 25% stake in Aer Lingus, to the International Airlines Group, however, he was also confronted with a series of strikes by Dublin Bus, Luas and Irish Rail workers.

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (2016–2020)

Donohoe was appointed Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, following the formation of a Fine Gael minority government in May 2016.

In the weeks leading up to his first budget in October 2016, Donohoe took over most of the workload from Minister for Finance Michael Noonan, who had been hospitalised for a period. Hopes of a budget splurge were quashed after Donohoe signalled Brexit and other world events would have “seismic consequences” on Ireland. On budget day he announced €58 billion in various day-to-day and capital expenditure which was an increase in €4 billion from the previous budget.

During his tenure as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Donohoe dealt with a number of complex issues, including a threatened strike by the Garda Síochána. This resulted in a recommendation by the Labour Court and the decision not to proceed with industrial action by members of AGSI and the GRA.

Donohoe also negotiated a new national pay agreement for public servants, known as the Public Service Stability Agreement 2018-2020. This outlined a roadmap for the full and complete unwinding of the emergency legislation introduced during the financial crisis (FEMPI - Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) as it affects, among other things, the remuneration of public servants and the pensions in payment of retired public servants.

Donohoe also formed part of the Government's negotiating team following the 2016 general election. This resulted in the formation of a minority Fine Gael government with Independents, underpinned by a confidence and supply agreement with the main opposition party Fianna Fáil.

His period as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform ended on 27 June 2020, following the formation of the 32nd Government led by Micheál Martin. He is succeeded by Michael McGrath.

Minister for Finance (2017–present)

Following the appointment of Leo Varadkar as Taoiseach, Donohoe was appointed as Minister for Finance, taking office on 14 June 2017. On 10 October 2017, Donohoe presented his first budget as Minister for Finance.

Donohoe presided over the public finance during a time when a budget surplus was recorded (in 2018) for the first time since the financial crisis (2006), marking a significant achievement for the Government.

Working with Cabinet colleagues, he engineered a new €116bn, 10-year National Development Plan which underpins Project Ireland 2040; a plan aimed at preparing for an Ireland in which an extra one million people will live and which will have 660,000 more people at work. This also feeds into the Government's bid to increase Ireland's annual capital expenditure in line with EU norms. Budget 2019 saw an increase in capital expenditure by 25%, going from €5.7bn in 2018 to €7.2bn in 2019.

In both of his budgets as Minister for Finance, Donohoe made decisions to increase taxes in order to allow for increased spending. In Budget 2018, this was done by way of a tripling of the stamp duty rate on the sale of commercial property. The following year he reverted to the standard rate of VAT for the hospitality and services sector (going from 9% back up to 13.5%); a measure which had been introduced during the financial crisis in a bid to aid those sectors.

In 2018, Donohoe and Michael D'Arcy welcomed Ireland's issuing of its first green bond, making Ireland one of the first countries in the world to do so.

That year he also published Ireland's Roadmap on Corporation Tax (CT) taking stock of the changing international tax environment, outlining the actions Ireland has taken to date in the area of CT and the further actions to be taken over the coming years.

Donohoe is an opponent of the European Commission's Digital Services Tax, instead favouring a more globalised approach to the matter through the work of the OECD. He is a staunch defender of Ireland 12.5% corporation tax, which he repeatedly says will neither go up nor down under his Government's tenure, offering security to businesses in that regard.

Donohoe is a regular attendee at the Davos World Economic Forum. He also attends at the Bilderberg Meetings.

Following the appointment of Micheál Martin as Taoiseach, Donohoe was appointed for a second term as Minister for Finance on 27 June 2020.

President of the Eurogroup

On 9 July 2020, Donohoe was elected as President of the Eurogroup, succeeding Mário Centeno, taking office on 13 July 2020.

Personal life

Donohoe married British-born Justine Davey in 2001. They have two children, a son and a daughter, and live in Phibsborough.

Other

Donohoe regularly writes book reviews for The Irish Times, as well as for other publications.

Sample of reviews:

• Isaiah Berlin's ideas & me
• Currency, Credit & Crisis; Central Banking in Ireland & Europe - Honohan
• Firefighting; The Financial Crisis and its Lessons - Bernanke, Geithner, Paulson
• The Third Pillar: The Revival of Community in a Polarized World - Rajan
• Enough Said: What's Wrong with the Language of Politics? - Thompson

External links

• Official website
• Paschal Donohoe's page on the Fine Gael website