Dr. Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD is the Minister for European Affairs & Defence.

Appointed by the Taoiseach to this role in April 2024, Dr. Carroll MacNeill previously served as Minister of State in the Department for Finance with special responsibility for Financial Services, Credit Unions and Insurance.

Minister Carroll MacNeill was elected as a TD for the Dún Laoghaire constituency in the 2020 General Election. She served on a number of Oireachtas Committees including the Public Accounts Committee, the Justice Committee and the Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. She was also a member of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly.

Before entering elected politics, Minister Carroll MacNeill qualified as a Solicitor and Barrister.  She holds a PhD in public policy where her research interest was in political institutions and the judiciary.

Minister Carroll MacNeill has worked as a lawyer in the public service, both within the Oireachtas as Legal Adviser in the Office of the Leader of Fine Gael and within Government as Special Adviser in the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, in the Department of Justice and Equality & in the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government.