Sinn Féin TD for Wicklow John Brady will be the new chairman of the powerful Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the party confirmed on Friday.
Mr Brady takes over at the PAC from his party colleague, Galway West TD Máiread Farrell, who briefly was chairwoman after former Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley was removed by the party late in the term of the last Dáil.
The PAC oversees public spending in State bodies and holds high-profile hearings into spending controversies of the day, including the RTÉ scandal that emerged in 2023 after previously undisclosed payments to the broadcaster’s star presenter, Ryan Tubridy, were made public.
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Mr Brady, who is a second-term TD and defended his seat despite the extensive redrawing of the Wicklow constituency, after which he lost significant votes to the new Wicklow-Wexford area, was not named as a party frontbench spokesman in January.
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Ms Farrell, who is spokeswoman on public expenditure, will chair the finance committee, which was the first lead role sought by Sinn Féin during the recent carving-up of those positions.
The posts, which come with an additional salary allocation of €10,888 annually, are divided under the complex D’Hondt system that reflects the relative strength of parties and groupings in the Dáil.
Cavan-Monaghan TD Matt Carthy, the party’s spokesman on justice, home affairs and migration, will lead the Dáil’s committee on the same area, while Limerick City TD Maurice Quinlivan will chair the committee on disability matters.
Mayo TD Rose Conway Walsh, who is the party’s Enterprise spokeswoman, will chair the defence and national security committee. Waterford TD Conor McGuinness, a first-time deputy, will lead the fisheries and maritime affairs committee.
Fingal West TD Louise O’Reilly, Sinn Féin spokeswoman on social protection, completes the party line-up with the chair of the committee on public petitions.
