Dara Calleary returns to Cabinet as new Government super junior minister

Fianna Fáil Minister of State Dara Calleary has been named as the new super junior who sits at Cabinet following the promotion of Jack Chambers as Minister for Finance.

Mr Chambers took up the role this week after his predecessor, Michael McGrath, was put forward as Ireland’s next EU Commissioner.

Mr Calleary will retain his current portfolio as as Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, with responsibility for trade promotion, digital and company regulation.

Mr Chambers’s move to the Department of Finance left open his role as Minister of State, which will be filled by Kildare North TD James Lawless. Mr Lawless will hold special responsibility for international and road transport and logistics at the Department of Transport, and special responsibility for postal policy at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin announced both appointments on Thursday afternoon.

Appointed as chief whip when the Government was formed in July 2020, Mr Calleary became Minister for Agriculture shortly afterwards when Barry Cowen was sacked by Taoiseach Micheál Martin. However, within a few weeks Mr Calleary had resigned in the midst of a controversy over his attendance at the Oireachtas Golf Society Dinner in Clifden during Covid restrictions.

He remained on the backbenches until the summer of 2022, when he was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise following the resignation of Robert Troy. Mr Calleary is from a family with a strong allegiance to Fianna Fáil and has been a TD since 2007. His grandfather Phelim Calleary was a TD for Mayo North from 1952 to 1969 and his father, Seán, was TD for Mayo East from 1973 to 1992.

Mr Lawless was first elected for Fianna Fáil in Kildare North in the 2016 general election, having been a councillor for the two years prior to that. He studied law at the Kings Inns, as well as having degrees in maths and computer science from TCD. He worked in systems analysis before politics. He was re-elected in 2020, and since then has served as the chair of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice.