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Mairead McGuinness has been selected by European Commission president Ursuala von der Leyen to replace Phil Hogan as Ireland’s European Commissioner.
McGuinness has been named as Commissioner for Financial Services and Financial Stability. Latvia’s Valdis Dombrovskis will take over the Trade Commissioner role which Hogan vacated.
McGuinness has served as a Fine Gael MEP since 2004. She has significant experience in Europe having also been elected a first vice-president of the European Commission.
Announcing her appointment, von der Leyen made reference to this significant experience and said it would be crucial to carry forward the Commission’s agenda.
Farming links
Well-known in farming circles, McGuinness spent her earlier career writing about agriculture in the print media, including for the Irish Farmers Journal, before presenting on the popular RTÉ series Ear to the Ground.
She has served on the European Parliament’s agriculture committee and also has a direct family interest in agriculture.
She will now face a round of interviews with MEPs before she is confirmed as a commissioner.
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