In the late 1950s when Seán Lemass became taoiseach, his advisers were close political colleagues and a handful of civil servants, primarily TK Whitaker. Lemass disdained outside experts and intellectuals, once boasting there were no “legal eagles” in his circle.
Nowadays, experts and intellectuals are still very rare among government advisers – they are more likely to be party workers or loyal hired guns – but Government Buildings is a Spad-rich environment.
There are 19 Spads, or special advisers, working for the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste. A further two Spads are assigned to central Government roles for the group of Independent Ministers who are supporting the Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael Coalition. This total of 21 Spads covers only central Government. Each Minister also has at least one special adviser of their own.
A case can be made for the increased use of such advisers. Almost 70 years after Lemass, Irish governments operate in a wealthier, more interconnected State that has been shaped by EU membership. There are relentless communication demands and a complex policy and regulatory landscape.
But who are the Spads? How much do they cost? And what exactly what do they do?
Advisers to Taoiseach Micheál Martin
Deirdre Gillane Deirdre GillaneChief of staffDeputy secretary salary scale: €206,232 (part of that is gifted back to State following State pay-reduction measures)
Gillane, from Glasheen in Cork city, has been an adviser to Micheál Martin for 25 years. She began her career as a nurse and then worked as an official for the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation before being recruited by Martin when he became minister for health in 2000.
Her experience and political shrewdness make her an influential figure, not just on behalf of Martin, but within Fianna Fáil. She is Martin’s chief adviser on policy and strategy. She is also his main troubleshooter. Gillane is a low-key background figure. While readily accessible to TDs and journalists, some backbenchers whinge about the power she wields.
Like Martin, her reputation was dented by the fiasco around Jim Gavin’s presidential campaign. Away from politics, she is a huge GAA and rugby fan.
Pat McParland. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins
Pat McParlandDeputy chief of staffAssistant secretary salary grade: €159,734-€182,724
McParland, a native of Co Armagh, joined Fianna Fáil at probably the worst moment in the party’s history, in late 2010. His first assignment, as head of communications, was at the Fianna Fáil think-in in Galway, where then taoiseach Brian Cowen was interviewed by Morning Ireland, seemingly worse for wear after a late night in the Ardilaun Hotel.
He stayed in the communications role in opposition, becoming a key member of Martin’s inner team. When Fianna Fáil returned to government, he turned down a public-facing job, opting instead to focus on strategy and policy. His remit covers Martin’s Shared Island project, Northern Ireland, Ireland-UK relations, energy, defence and transport as well as speech-writing.
Paul Clarkson. Photograph: LinkedIn Paul ClarksonGovernment press secretaryAssistant secretary salary grade: €159,734- €182,724
Clarkson’s previous job was as group managing editor of the Sun in London and before that as editor of the Irish Sun. His persona is as far from the stereotypical Kelvin MacKenzie tabloid editor as you could imagine.
Raised in Belfast, he came back from London to take over from Lisa Dee-Collery in late 2020 and has become a fixture.
Diarmuid Lynch. Photograph: LinkedIn Diarmuid LynchSpecial adviserPrincipal officer salary: €100,720-€124,582
Lynch, a native of the Cork Gaeltacht in Baile Bhúirne (Ballyvourney), is a career policy adviser. In college he interned at the late US senator Ted Kennedy’s office in Boston. He worked initially in tax for Deloitte before a series of policy and research roles in Brussels. He joined Fianna Fáil in 2015 as a policy adviser and has been a special adviser to Martin since 2020. Regarded as “steeped” in Fianna Fáil, his policy areas include climate, agriculture, constituency visits and liaison with TDs and Senators. Like all special advisers, he has inputs into Martin’s responses for Leaders’ Questions and Dáil debates.
Michaela Reilly. Photograph: LinkedIn Michaela ReillySpecial adviserPrincipal officer salary: €100,720-€124,582
The Kilkenny native’s path to Government Buildings was, like many others, via the Fianna Fáil research office. A UCC graduate, she worked in policy and research for Chambers Ireland and Mental Health Ireland before a year in New York as policy adviser to the Irish mission to the United Nations. She began working for Fianna Fáil in 2023 and took up her current role in January 2025. She is the youngest of Martin’s advisers and has responsibility for children, education and social protection.
Gráinne Weld Gráinne WeldSpecial adviserPrincipal officer salary: €100,720-€124,582
The most senior of the policy advisers, she came to Fianna Fáil in 2015 after six years as a policy researcher with the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice. She has been in Government Buildings since 2020, with responsibility for collating the key folder for Leaders’ Questions and Taoiseach’s questions and also has policy roles in health and foreign affairs. She is from Co Kildare. Her father was a Fine Gael councillor until 2024.
Sharon McGowan Sharon McGowanSpecial adviserPrincipal officer salary: €100,720-€124,582
The former Irish Daily Mail and Sunday Times journalist became Department of Foreign Affairs press adviser for Martin when he was tánaiste. She is from Leitrim. She fulfils a largely communications-related brief, deputising for Clarkson on occasion, and also retaining foreign affairs responsibilities.
Killian Ginnity. Photograph: LinkedIn Killian GinnitySpecial adviserPrincipal officer salary: €100,720-€124,582
Ginnity’s responsibilities are as the Taoiseach’s digital content creator, posting the Taoiseach’s messages and events on social media. His is a new role in Merrion Street. He worked in similar roles for Newstalk, Virgin Media and Joe.ie.
Dr Kieran McQuinn. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins Dr Kieran McQuinnSpecial adviser on economic and fiscal policy (on secondment from the ESRI)Assistant secretary salary grade: €159,734-€182,724
Similar to the attorney general appointment, accepting this role when offered is seen as almost a national duty. Last year McQuinn succeeded Alan Ahearne of the University of Galway, who had been there between 2020 and 2024. In the ESRI, McQuinn has authored the influential quarterly economic commentary and in recent years specialised on macroeconomic and housing-related areas.
Advisers to Tánaiste Simon Harris
Tánaiste Simon Harris and Sarah Bardon, chief of staff. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins
Sarah BardonChief of staffAssistant secretary grade: €159,734-€182,724
When Harris became taoiseach in 2024, Sarah Bardon shared the chief-of-staff role with Joanne Lonergan, but now she is sole person in the role, with Lonergan becoming programme manager. Bardon has a journalistic background, with the Irish Mirror and The Irish Times, where she was on the political team until 2018.
Harris was minister for health when she first joined his team. Initially a communications specialist, she has become to Harris what Deirdre Gillane is to Martin: a loyal adviser who is attuned to his thinking and instincts on most matters.
Joanne Lonergan. Photograph: LinkedIn Joanne LonerganProgramme managerAssistant secretary grade: €159,734-€182,724
Lonergan has been associated with Fine Gael for more than 20 years and comes from a communications background. She worked in the Fine Gael press office when the party was in opposition and was appointed assistant government press secretary when Enda Kenny became Taoiseach in 2011. When Leo Varadkar became taoiseach she moved to the Department of Health, where she was a special adviser to Simon Harris until 2021. Then followed a short stint with Murray Consultants, before she returned when Harris became taoiseach. She now focuses on the more strategic and policy role of programme manager.
Hugh O’Connell. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw Hugh O’ConnellDeputy Government press secretaryAssistant secretary grade: €159,734-€182,724
O’Connell worked for the Irish Independent, the Sunday Times, the Business Post and the Journal in a 20-year career as a journalist before taking up his current role in January 2025. His wife, Theresa Newman, is a special adviser to Minister for Tourism, Sport and Media Patrick O’Donovan. Newman is a sister of former Fine Gael TD Kate O’Connell.
Conor Glynn. Photograph: LinkedIn Conor GlynnSpecial adviser Principal officer salary: €100,720-€124,582
Glynn has a degree in chemistry but has worked in politics since graduating in 2020. He spent five years in Brussels as personal assistant to Fine Gael MEP Frances Fitzgerald and became Harris’s PA in May 2004 upon the Wicklow TD’s elevation to Taoiseach. Glynn was promoted to special adviser in 2025. Recently assigned to the Department of Finance, he covers international finance, foreign affairs and Northern Ireland. He has also been given responsibility for compiling the Leaders’ Questions folder each week.
Clare Mungovan Clare MungovanSpecial adviser Principal officer salary: €100,720-€124,582
Mungovan, from west Cork, has worked for Fine Gael since 2012, first as a research officer and then as a special adviser, moving to the Department of An Taoiseach in 2018. She was until recently the person in charge of the Leaders’ Questions folder, which contains responses to questions asked at short notice by Opposition leaders. She has recently been assigned to the Department of Finance, where she covers domestic finance as well as public expenditure and reform. She also looks after another of her old specialist areas, defence. She is a first cousin of Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney.
Jack O’Donnell. Photograph: LinkedIn Jack O’Donnell, special adviser Principal officer salary: €100,720-€124,582
The Castlebar native is another adviser with strong Fine Gael roots. He studied law but has worked in politics throughout his career, apart from a year working for PR firm Q4. He began as a special assistant to then taoiseach Enda Kenny, before a series of adviser roles: for Eoghan Murphy in housing, and then Pippa Hackett of the Green Party when she was super junior minister for forestry. When Harris became taoiseach, he chose O’Donnell as an adviser. His policy areas include justice, agriculture, transport, climate and energy. He also stands in to do communications roles from time to time.
Pauric McPhillips, Special Adviser to the Tánaiste. Photograph: LinkedIn Pauric McPhillipsSpecial adviser Principal officer salary: €100,720-€124,582
Until November 2024, McPhillips’s entire career was linked to that of Heather Humphreys. He began as her PA when Humphreys was elected in 2011 and was her special adviser (on communication and also on policy) in the four ministries she held until her retirement. He is from Monaghan. His policy areas are enterprise, social protection, education and disability.
Niall O’Connor. Photograph: LinkedIn Niall O’ConnorSpecial adviser Principal officer salary: €100,720-€124,582
The former Irish Independent political correspondent has a communications brief mainly for the department to which the Tánaiste is assigned – that’s the Department of Finance right now. The Wicklow-born adviser is co-author of a biography of Leo Varadkar.
Max Murphy, Special Adviser to the Tánaiste. Photograph: LinkedIn Max MurphySpecial adviser Principal officer salary: €100,720-€124,582
Murphy is Harris’s digital content producer and looks after his social media. Still in his 20s, he has a Fine Gael-heavy CV, having formerly worked as a PA to TD Neale Richmond and former Fine Gael TD Catherine Byrne. He has Irish parents and a Dublin accent, although he grew up in Mazères, southwest France. His job combines his interest in policy and visual arts – he did work experience with a photographer while he was a student.
Stephen Kinsella. Photograph: LinkedIn Stephen KinsellaSpecial adviser, part-secondment from University of LimerickSalary: Undisclosed
The professor of economics at the University of Limerick has become one of Ireland’s most high-profile academics in recent years. He has been chief economics writer for the Currency, had a weekly column with the Irish Independent for six years and was a regular guest on radio and TV. Varadkar did not have an economic adviser but Harris revived the role on becoming taoiseach. Kinsella works part time in the role, as he retains his UL position.
Advisers to Regional Independents
Cáit Nic Amhlaoibh. Photograph: LinkedIn Cáit Nic AmhlaoibhPolicy co-ordinator and programme for government manager for Independent MinistersPrincipal officer higher salary: €108,392-€133,682
Nic Amhlaoibh has worked in Leinster House since 2011, having previously worked with music retailer Golden Discs as head of human resources. She initially worked as PAs to parliamentarians before becoming administrator for the regional parliamentary group.
Thomas Blade. Photograph: LinkedIn Thomas BladeCommunications co-ordinator for Independent MinistersPrincipal officer standard salary: €100,720-€124,582
The spokesman for the Independent Group has a background in media, most recently as a senior news producer for Euronews, based in France.