A Minister of State ( ga, Aire Stáit) in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

(also called a junior minister) is of non-cabinet rank attached to one or more

Departments of State The United States federal executive departments are the principal units of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States. They are analogous to ministries common in parliamentary or semi-presidential systems but (the United ...

of the

Government of Ireland The Government of Ireland ( ga, Rialtas na hÉireann) is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in Ireland. The Constitution of Ireland vests executive authority in a government which is headed by the , the head of government. The govern ...

and assists the Minister of the Government responsible for that Department.

Appointment

Unlike senior government ministers, which are appointed by the

President of Ireland The president of Ireland ( ga, Uachtarán na hÉireann) is the head of state of Ireland and the supreme commander of the Irish Defence Forces. The president holds office for seven years, and can be elected for a maximum of two terms.Constitu ...

on the

advice Advice (noun) or advise (verb) may refer to: * Advice (opinion), an opinion or recommendation offered as a guide to action, conduct * Advice (constitutional law) a frequently binding instruction issued to a constitutional office-holder * Advice (p ...

of the

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the of ...

and the prior approval of

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland rea ...

, Ministers of State are appointed directly by the government, on the nomination of the Taoiseach. Members of either House of the

Oireachtas The Oireachtas (, ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the bicameral parliament of Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of: *The President of Ireland *The two houses of the Oireachtas ( ga, Tithe an Oireachtais): ** Dáil Éireann ...

(Dáil or Seanad) may be appointed to be a Minister of State at a Department of State; to date, the only Senator appointed as Minister of State has been Pippa Hackett, who was appointed in June 2020 to the 32nd Government of Ireland. Ministers of State continue in office after the dissolution of the Dáil until the appointment of a new Taoiseach. If the Taoiseach resigns from office, a Minister of State is also deemed to have resigned from office. Powers and duties of a Government Minister may be delegated to a Minister of State by a

statutory instrument In many countries, a statutory instrument is a form of delegated legislation. United Kingdom Statutory instruments are the principal form of delegated or secondary legislation in the United Kingdom. National government Statutory instrumen ...

. If the Government Minister resigns, these powers must delegated again on the appointment of a new Government Minister. Some Ministers of State are department heads. In the 31st Government,

Leo Varadkar Leo Eric Varadkar ( ; born 18 January 1979) is an Irish politician who has served as Taoiseach since December 2022, and previously from 2017 to 2020. He served as Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment from June 2020 to D ...

was the

Minister for Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

as well as

but the day-to-day running of the

Department of Defence Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philippin ...

was administered by Paul Kehoe, the

Minister of State at the Department of Defence The Minister of State at the Department of Defence ( ga, Aire Stáit ag an Roinn Cosanta) is a junior ministerial post in the Department of Defence of the Government of Ireland who performs duties and functions delegated by the Minister for Defe ...

History

The Ministers and Secretaries Act 1924 allowed the Executive Council (from 1937, the Government of Ireland) to appoint up to seven Parliamentary Secretaries to the Executive Council or to Executive Ministers, who held office during the duration of the government and while they were a member of the Oireachtas. This position was abolished by the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1977, which created the new position of Minister of State. This Act was commenced on 1 January 1978. In the 1977 Act, the number of Ministers of State was limited to 10. In 1980 this was raised to 15, in 1995 it was raised to 17, and in 2007 it was raised to 20. On 21 April 2009, Brian Cowen asked all 20 Ministers of State to resign, and he re-appointed a reduced number of 15 ministers the following day, when the Dáil resumed after the Easter recess. The current government appointed 20 Ministers of State in July 2020. Máire Geoghegan-Quinn was the first woman to be appointed as a Parliamentary Secretary, when she was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry and Commerce by

Jack Lynch John Mary Lynch (15 August 1917 – 20 October 1999) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1966 to 1973 and 1977 to 1979, Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1966 to 1979, Leader of the Opposition from 1973 to 1977, Ministe ...

in 1977 (becoming Minister of State at the Department of Industry, Commerce and Energy in 1978). In 1979, Geoghegan-Quinn would become the first women appointed to cabinet since 1921.

Ministers of State attending cabinet

The Government

Chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom ...

is a

Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach The Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach is a junior ministerial post in the Department of the Taoiseach of the Government of Ireland who performs duties and functions delegated by the Taoiseach. The position was first created ...

and attends cabinet. The current Chief Whip is

Hildegarde Naughton Hildegarde Naughton (born 1 May 1977) is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has served as Government Chief Whip and Minister of State at the Department of Health since December 2022. She has served as a Minister of State attending cabinet since ...

. Since the Rainbow Coalition formed in 1994, several governments have appointed additional Ministers of State with permission to attend cabinet but not to vote. Ministers of State attending cabinet, other than the

, are often described as super junior ministers or super juniors. Up to three Ministers of State attending cabinet may receive an allowance. Ministers of State attending cabinet in the 33rd Government are: *

– Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach * Jack Chambers – Minister of State at the Department of Transport, and at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, at the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media * Pippa Hackett – Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

References

{{Ministers of State of Ireland Politics of the Republic of Ireland