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The First Vice President of the European Parliament, Mairead McGuinness, and the former Vice President of the European Investment Bank, Andrew McDowell, are running as candidates to be Ireland’s next European Commissioner.
The vacancy arose following the resignation of Phil Hogan, who resigned following controversy over his moves while in Ireland and his attendance at an Oireachtas Golf Society event in Clifden on August 19.
Over the weekend, Ms McGuinness said that we have had a “difficult time” over the past week, with the name of the country in Europe being mentioned in ways that they would rather not.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, had invited the government to put forward suitable candidates for a replacement commissioner, saying that she expected a male and female candidate to present.
A meeting of Cabinet members is underway to approve the nominations.
Ms. McGuinness is the higher profile of the two candidates.
He is the representative of the North West Irish constituency in the European Parliament.
Before becoming an MEP, she was a well-known journalist, broadcaster and commentator and hosted Ear to the Ground on RTÉ.
She was elected First Vice-President of the European Parliament in January 2017 and re-elected to the post in July 2019. She has been Vice-President of Parliament since July 2014.
McDowell was the government’s former chief economic adviser from 2011 to 2016 and worked closely with then-Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
Since then he has been Vice President of the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg.
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