Paschal Donohoe’s resignation as Minister for Finance to take up a position at the World Bank is “Ireland’s loss” and “the world’s gain”, according to the new Minister for Education, Hildegarde Naughton.
Speaking on RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland, Ms Naughton said she was “deeply honoured” to be nominated for the position and paid tribute to Mr Donohoe on his departure from Government.
Ms Naughton said she had not known that Mr Donohoe was planning to leave politics.
“He’s been a real mentor and somebody who we could have gone to for advice and I think has a stellar record as a public servant here,” she said. “But I absolutely wish him well and I think Ireland’s loss is the world’s gain with his new role in the World Bank and I wish him every success.”
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“I think he’s obviously somebody who has, as he said himself, been through 10 budgets and three national development plans and given great service to Ireland and to the Fine Gael Party.”
Ms Naughton said she intends to “hit the ground running” in her new role and came to the position with “a 360-degree understanding” of the brief because of her experience in her previous portfolio as Minister of State at the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth with responsibility for Disability.
When asked if a better job offer came along for her, would she take it, Ms Naughton said she was now in the position she wanted and was very proud to be the first Fine Gael TD from Galway West to be appointed as a senior Cabinet Minister.
“This is the work that I want to do and to continue on the work from previous ministers, my colleague Minister Helen McEntee,” she said.
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“So today I’ll be spending the day and the next number of days meeting with my department officials and getting fully right into the new brief and also travelling to Athlone because we’ve our colleagues down there in the Department of Education as well.”
The former primary schoolteacher said her experiences as a teacher and in government gave her an understanding of disability in particular.
“So I’m going to hit the ground running. I really believe in listening to parents, students, teachers or SNAs [special needs assistants] in the wider school community. They’re the real experts here to hear about that lived experience. That’s how I’ve always done my business as a Minister, and that’s going to be my focus as I get into my new brief.”
Ms Naughton added that she wanted her work on places in schools for children with special needs to continue.
“That’s the work we’ve done with extra funding in this Budget 2026, making sure that the National Council for Special Education that they have the data in relation to the children coming up along the line who are going into primary school, where it’s not a mystery come September in relation to the numbers of children who need special school places or school places across the country.
“So that work is absolutely under way and that’s I suppose my ambition, one of my ambitions here within this department,” she said.
