Andrew McDowell (born January 1971) is an Irish economist and government official. He was economic advisor to

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

Enda Kenny Enda Kenny (born 24 April 1951) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 2011 to 2017, Leader of Fine Gael from 2002 to 2017, Minister for Defence (Ireland), Minister for Defence from May to July 2014 and 2016 to 201 ...

from 2011, until he became a vice-president of the

European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the 27 member states. It is the largest multilateral financial institution in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt sol ...

between 2016 and 2020.

Background

McDowell was born in 1971. He attended

St Conleth's College St. Conleth's College is a private co-educational Catholic school in Ballsbridge, Dublin, founded on 4 September 1939 by Bernard Sheppard. The current principal of the senior school is Donal Ó Dúlaing. History The school was named after Conl ...

. He studied at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

, receiving a BComm, MSc and MBA. He completed a post-graduate fellowship in economics and European studies at the

Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies The School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is a graduate school of Johns Hopkins University based in Washington, D.C. The school also maintains campuses in Bologna, Italy and Nanjing, China. The school is devoted to the study of int ...

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

. He began his career as an accountant. McDowell then worked as European deputy editor of the

Economist Intelligence Unit The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) is the research and analysis division of the Economist Group, providing forecasting and advisory services through research and analysis, such as monthly country reports, five-year country economic forecasts ...

and was later chief economist at

Forfás Forfás () was the national policy advisory board for enterprise, trade, science, technology and innovation in Ireland. The agency was established in January 1994 under thIndustrial Development Act, 1993and was run by a board appointed by the Mi ...

Public career

Economic Advisor

He began working for

Fine Gael Fine Gael ( ; ; ) is a centre-right, liberal-conservative, Christian democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil Éireann. The party had a member ...

as an economic advisor in 2007. He became the party's head of research in 2009. He was the author of many of the party's economic policies, including the proposal to establish

Irish Water ( , Irish: ), formerly and commonly known as Irish Water, is a state-owned water utility company in Ireland. It was created by the Irish Government in 2013 as a subsidiary of Bord Gáis. Water and wastewater services were previously provid ...

. He was a participant in negotiations between Fine Gael and the Labour Party which led to both parties going into

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

together. Following the formation of the government, he was appointed as one of

's two main advisors, his chief economic advisor. His salary was criticised by the Leader of the Opposition,

Micheál Martin Micheál Martin (; born 16 August 1960) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician serving as Taoiseach since January 2025, having previously held the position from 2020 to 2022. Martin served as Tánaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Min ...

. He was a member of the

Economic Management Council An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...

, a cabinet sub-committee which took decisions related to the Irish economic crisis. Midway through the coalition, he was the lead negotiator with the Labour Party on policy priorities. He was credited with creating the slogan "keep the recovery going" used by Fine Gael in the

2016 Irish general election The 2016 Irish general election to the 32nd Dáil was held on Friday 26 February, following the dissolution of the 31st Dáil by President of Ireland, President Michael D. Higgins on 3 February, at the request of Taoiseach Enda Kenny. The genera ...

. He was again involved in Fine Gael negotiations following the election. He negotiated with

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil ( ; ; meaning "Soldiers of Destiny" or "Warriors of Fál"), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party (), is a centre to centre-right political party in Ireland. Founded as a republican party in 1926 by Éamon de ...

to establish a

confidence and supply In parliamentary system, parliamentary democracies based on the Westminster system, confidence and supply is an arrangement under which a minority government (one which does not control a majority in the legislature) receives the support of one ...

agreement which led to Fine Gael returning to government.

European Investment Bank

Ireland was allocated one of eight vice president positions at the

in 2016. The Irish government undertook a public competition and put forward McDowell as its nominee. He took up his position on 1 September 2016. His role encompassed oversight of the bank's treasury, economics and evaluation functions and institutional relations in some European and Asian countries. He oversaw lending operations and policy in the energy sector. McDowell was considered for the role of Governor of the

Central Bank of Ireland The Central Bank of Ireland () is the national central bank for Ireland within the Eurosystem. It was the Irish central bank from 1943 to 1998, issuing the Irish pound. It is also the country's main financial regulatory authority, and since 2 ...

in 2019. His four-year term came to an end on 1 September 2020. He was succeeded by Christian Kettel Thomsen.

Commissioner nominee

McDowell was one of two people, along with

Mairead McGuinness Mairead McGuinness (born 13 June 1959) is an Irish politician who served as the European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union from October 2020 to November 2024. A member of Fine Gael, she pr ...

, nominated by the

Irish government The Government of Ireland () is the executive authority of Ireland, headed by the , the head of government. The government – also known as the cabinet – is composed of ministers, each of whom must be a member of the , which consists of ...

on 4 September 2020 to replace

Phil Hogan Philip Hogan (born 4 July 1960) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as European Commissioner for Trade between 2019 and 2020, and previously European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development between 2014 and 2019. He p ...

on the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; ; born 8 October 1958) is a German politician, serving as president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding position ...

interviewed McDowell and McGuinness, before selecting McGuinness for her College of Commissioners on 8 September 2020.

Personal life

McDowell is married with children. His second cousin is the former

Tánaiste The Tánaiste ( , ) is the second-ranking member of the government of Ireland and the holder of its second-most senior office. It is the equivalent of the deputy prime minister in other parliamentary systems. The Tánaiste is appointed by the P ...

Michael McDowell.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcdowell, Andrew 1971 births Alumni of University College Dublin 21st-century Irish economists People educated at St Conleth's College Irish officials of the European Union Living people Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies alumni