| Post: | Government Chief Whip |
| Incumbent: | Hildegarde Naughton |
| Incumbentsince: | 17 December 2022 |
| Appointer: | Taoiseach |
| Formation: | 6 December 1922 |
| Deputy: | Cormac Devlin |
The Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach is a junior ministerial post in the Department of the Taoiseach of the Government of Ireland who performs duties and functions delegated by the Taoiseach.
The position was first created in 1922 as Parliamentary secretary to the President of the Executive Council. In 1937, following the adoption of the Constitution of Ireland, the position was changed to that of Parliamentary Secretary to the Taoiseach.[1] In 1978, the position was superseded by the office of Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach.
One of the Ministers of State in this department is assigned the role of Government Chief Whip and is the most senior Minister of State in the government of Ireland. They attend cabinet meetings, but do not have a vote and are not one of fifteen members of the government. The role of the Whip is primarily that of the disciplinarian for all government parties, to ensure that all deputies, including ministers, attend for Dáil Business and follow the government line on all issues.[2]
The incumbent Government Chief Whip is Hildegarde Naughton, TD, and the Deputy Chief Whip is Cormac Devlin.
The main responsibilities of the Chief Whip include:[3]
The Chief Whip is a Minister of State who attends Government meetings, but does not have a vote. The title is sometimes given as "Minister of State, attending Government".[4] Other Ministers of state with the title "Minister of State, attending Government" are commonly known as Super Junior Ministers.
Before each Dáil Session letters are sent to all Ministers to see what legislation or other business their department expects to place before the Dáil. A weekly report on what stage Bills are at is given to the Taoiseach. During the Order of Business the Taoiseach is often queried about what legislation is promised. The weekly report shows what Bills are promised and gives an expected date of publication of the Bill.
Once a Bill has been published and is placed on the Dáil Order Paper the staff in the Whip's Office keep in touch with Minister's Private Secretaries about when they wish to have their bill taken in the Dáil - sometimes the Whip's Office have to insist that a Bill is taken on a certain day, particularly when there is not much business for the House. Every Wednesday the Private Secretary prepares an agenda (called a schedule - see example) for each sitting day of the following week. This is discussed at a meeting of the Dáil Business Committee, which includes the Whips of the major parties, including the government (Fine Gael) chief whip; Fianna Fáil whip Michael Moynihan; Sinn Féin whip Aengus Ó Snodaigh and Labour Party whip Brendan Ryan.
A pair is an arrangement whereby a Government Deputy's name is linked with an Opposition Deputy in the event of a Vote arising. The practice is that under such an arrangement neither Deputy votes in any Division arising while the pairing agreement is valid. Because it is obviously so important for the Government to maintain its majority in the Dáil Chamber the pairing arrangements must be attended to very carefully. If a member cannot attend a notice explaining their absence must be sent to the Chief Whip as early as possible.
The Minister has to ensure that facilities and services in Leinster House are satisfactory for members and staff. The Opposition Whips liaise with him on matters such as office equipment which they may require.
The Chief Whip chairs the weekly meeting of the Legislation Committee. This Committee meets to discuss the progress of Bills in Departments and tries to ensure that there is always enough business for the Dáil and Seanad. The meeting is attended by the Attorney General, a Parliamentary Draftsman, Programme Manager to the Taoiseach, Programme Manager to the Tánaiste, Principal Officer in this Department (who looks after legislation) and the Chief Whip.
Parliamentary Secretary to the President 1922–1937 | |||||
| Name | Term of office | Party | Executive Council | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daniel McCarthy | 6 December 1922 | 31 March 1924 | 1st2nd | ||
| James Dolan | 19 June 1924 | 24 June 1927 | 2nd | ||
| Eamonn Duggan | 24 June 1927 | 9 March 1932 | 3rd4th5th | ||
| Gerald Boland | 9 March 1932 | 7 February 1933 | 6th | ||
| Patrick Little | 8 February 1933 | 29 December 1937 | 7th8th | ||
Parliamentary Secretary to the Taoiseach 1937–1977 | |||||
| Name | Term of office | Party | Government | ||
| Patrick Little | 29 December 1937 | 26 September 1939 | 1st2nd | ||
| Paddy Smith | 27 September 1939 | 2 July 1943 | 2nd | ||
| Eamon Kissane | 2 July 1943 | 18 February 1948 | 3rd4th | ||
| Liam Cosgrave | 18 February 1948 | 13 June 1951 | 5th | ||
| Donnchadh Ó Briain | 13 June 1951 | 2 June 1954 | 6th | ||
| Denis J. O'Sullivan | 2 June 1954 | 20 March 1957 | 7th | ||
| Donnchadh Ó Briain | 20 March 1957 | 11 October 1961 | 8th9th | ||
| Joseph Brennan | 11 October 1961 | 21 April 1965 | 10th | ||
| Michael Carty | 21 April 1965 | 2 July 1969 | 11th12th | ||
| Desmond O'Malley | 2 July 1969 | 7 May 1970 | 13th | ||
| David Andrews | 8 May 1970 | 14 March 1973 | 13th | ||
| John M. Kelly | 14 March 1973 | 20 May 1977 | 14th | ||
| Patrick Lalor | 5 July 1977 | 1 January 1978 | 15th | ||
Ministers of State at the Department of the Taoiseach 1978–present | |||||
| Name | Term of office | Party | Government | ||
| Patrick Lalor | 1 January 1978 | 1 July 1979 | 15th | ||
| Michael Woods | 1 July 1979 | 11 December 1979 | 15th | ||
| Seán Moore | 13 December 1979 | 30 June 1981 | 16th | ||
| Gerry L'Estrange | 30 June 1981 | 11 November 1981 | 17th | ||
| Fergus O'Brien | 11 November 1981 | 9 March 1982 | 17th | ||
| Bertie Ahern | 9 March 1982 | 14 December 1982 | 18th | ||
| Seán Barrett[5] | 14 December 1982 | 13 February 1986 | 19th | ||
| Fergus O'Brien | 13 February 1986 | 10 March 1987 | 19th | ||
| Vincent Brady | 10 March 1987 | 14 November 1991 | 20th21st | ||
| Dermot Ahern | 15 November 1991 | 11 February 1992 | 21st | ||
| Noel Dempsey | 11 February 1992 | 15 December 1994 | 22nd23rd | ||
| Seán Barrett | 15 December 1994 | 23 May 1995 | 24th | ||
| Jim Higgins | 24 May 1995 | 26 June 1997 | 24th | ||
| Séamus Brennan | 26 June 1997 | 6 June 2002 | 25th | ||
| Mary Hanafin | 6 June 2002 | 29 September 2004 | 26th | ||
| Tom Kitt | 29 September 2004 | 7 May 2008 | 26th27th | ||
| Pat Carey | 7 May 2008 | 23 March 2010 | 28th | ||
| John Curran | 23 March 2010 | 9 March 2011 | 28th | ||
| Paul Kehoe | 9 March 2011 | 6 May 2016 | 29th | ||
| Regina Doherty | 6 May 2016 | 14 June 2017 | 30th | ||
| Joe McHugh | 14 June 2017 | 16 October 2018 | 31st | ||
| Seán Kyne | 16 October 2018 | 27 June 2020 | 31st | ||
| Dara Calleary | 27 June 2020 | 15 July 2020 | 32nd | ||
| Jack Chambers | 15 July 2020 | 17 December 2022 | 32nd[6] | ||
| Hildegarde Naughton | 17 December 2022 | Incumbent | 33rd34th | ||
| Name | Term of office | Party | Responsibility | Government | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seán Barrett | 13 February 1986 | 10 March 1987 | Dáil Reform | 19th | ||
| Nuala Fennell | 16 December 1982 | 10 March 1987 | Women's Affairs and Family Law Reform | |||
| Ted Nealon | 16 December 1982 | 10 March 1987 | Arts and Culture[7] | |||
| Máire Geoghegan-Quinn | 12 March 1987 | 12 July 1989 | Co-ordination of Government policy and EC matters | 20th | ||
| 19 July 1989 | 15 November 1991 | 21st | ||||
| Noel Treacy | 30 June 1988 | 12 July 1989 | Heritage | 20th | ||
| Brendan Daly | 19 July 1989 | 11 February 1992 | Heritage | 21st | ||
| Michael P. Kitt | 15 November 1991 | 11 February 1992 | Co-ordination of Government policy and EC matters | |||
| Tom Kitt | 13 February 1992 | 12 January 1993 | Arts and culture, Women's affairs and European affairs | 22nd | ||
| 14 January 1993 | 15 December 1994 | European affairs | 23rd | |||
| Noel Treacy | 14 January 1993 | 15 December 1994 | ||||
| Gay Mitchell | 20 December 1994 | 26 June 1997 | European affairs | 24th | ||
| Avril Doyle | 27 January 1995 | 26 June 1997 | Consumers of Public Services | |||
| Donal Carey | 27 January 1995 | 26 June 1997 | Western Development and Rural Renewal | |||
| Dick Roche | 19 June 2002 | 29 September 2004 | European Affairs | 26th | ||
| Noel Treacy | 29 September 2004 | 20 June 2007 | European Affairs | |||
| Dick Roche | 14 June 2007 | 9 March 2011 | European Affairs | 27th28th | ||
| Dara Calleary | 23 March 2010 | 9 March 2011 | Public service transformation | 28th | ||
| Lucinda Creighton | 10 March 2011 | 11 July 2013 | European Affairs | 29th | ||
| Paschal Donohoe | 12 July 2013 | 11 July 2014 | European Affairs | |||
| Jimmy Deenihan | 15 July 2014 | 6 May 2016 | Diaspora | |||
| Simon Harris | 15 July 2014 | 6 May 2016 | ||||
| Dara Murphy | 15 July 2014 | 20 June 2017 | European Affairs and Data protection | 29th30th | ||
| Joe McHugh | 19 May 2016 | 16 June 2017 | Diaspora | 30th | ||
| Paul Kehoe | 6 May 2016 | 14 June 2017 | 30th31st | |||
| Helen McEntee | 20 June 2017 | 27 June 2020 | European Affairs | 31st | ||
| Pat Breen | 20 June 2017 | 27 June 2020 | Data protection | |||
| Thomas Byrne | 1 July 2020 | 21 December 2022 | European Affairs | 32nd | ||
| Peter Burke | 21 December 2022 | 9 April 2024 | European Affairs | 33rd | ||
| Jennifer Carroll MacNeill | 10 April 2024 | Incumbent | European Affairs | 34th | ||