Politics

Chris Donoghue leaves role as Coveney adviser to become Government press secretary under Harris

Former Newstalk reporter and presenter became Simon Coveney’s media adviser in 2017

Chris Donoghue
Chris Donoghue will become Government press secretary when the new Fine Gael leader Simon Harris takes over from Leo Varadkar as Taoiseach on April 9th.
Jack Horgan-Jones
Thu Mar 28 2024 - 11:32

Government Buildings has poached a key adviser from Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Simon Coveney.

Chris Donoghue, formerly a reporter and presenter with Newstalk who joined Mr Coveney as his media adviser in 2017, will become Government press secretary when the new Fine Gael leader Simon Harris takes over from Leo Varadkar as Taoiseach on April 9th.

Mr Donoghue’s move will intensify speculation about Mr Coveney’s future, although sources in his camp insisted there was no implication to be inferred from his adviser’s move to the Department of the Taoiseach.

Mr Donoghue will join Sarah Bardon and Max Murphy as a member of Mr Harris’s core adviser team, while Joanne Lonergan, a former adviser to Mr Harris in the Department of Health and a Government Buildings veteran, is also expected to rejoin the team.

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There is an expectation that an economics adviser will also be recruited, while some of Mr Varadkar’s current team will be retained either permanently or on an interim basis.

[ The people behind the power: Who are Ireland’s political advisers and backroom experts? ]

The promotion of Mr Donoghue is expected to come with a significant pay increase for the journalist-turned-political adviser.

Mr Donoghue’s salary in his new role has not yet been decided. Nick Miller, the current Government press secretary, was paid on a scale equivalent to an assistant secretary general in the Civil Service, ranging from €156,000 to €178,000.

Mr Donoghue, a former presenter and a breakfast radio co-host of former Fine Gael minister-turned-broadcaster Ivan Yates, is currently paid a salary of €114,347, a principal officer grade.

[ Two-thirds of political and media advisers recruited by Government are paid more than €100,000 ]

He first joined Mr Coveney when the Fine Gael TD was minister for foreign affairs, working as an adviser around the difficult negotiations between the EU and UK on Brexit and the accompanying tensions that arose between the Irish and British governments.

He was also very active as an adviser to the Minister at Iveagh House when Ireland won one of the temporary seats on the United Nations Security Council in June 2020, the first time the State sat on the 15-member body in two decades.

Mr Donoghue dealt with the political fallout arising from the controversy over Mr Coveney’s ill-fated attempt to appoint former Independent minister Katherine Zappone as special envoy to the UN in 2021.

He stayed on as the Minister’s press adviser after the December 2022 reshuffle in which the Cork TD became Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

Jack Horgan-Jones

Jack Horgan-Jones

Jack Horgan-Jones is a Political Correspondent with The Irish Times