Here are the country's most senior civil servants running Ireland
A new secretary general was appointed last week at the Department of Health, replacing the country's best-paid civil servant Robert Watt (pictured). File photo: Collins Photos
Last week, as the Government prepared for a vote of confidence, two appointments were flagged in press releases.
The announcement of new secretaries general in the Departments of Health and Justice did not stop the presses or elicit much in the way of public debate, but the roles are significant. Secretaries general and their assistants are the country's most senior civil servants and handle much of the administration of the State.
Their pay is pegged at grades ranging from secretary general Level 1, which is €280,902, Level 2 at €264,380 and Level 3 at €250,465 to deputy secretaries who earn €219,258 and assistant secretaries who earn between €169,819 and €194,262.
So, who is who?
As secretary general of the Department of the Taoiseach, John Callinan is the country's top civil servant, having previously been a central figure in the country's Brexit negotiations. He is considered to be a detailed, calm and a hard worker by those familiar with him.
He had been second secretary general at the Department of the Taoiseach from 2016 until his 2022 appointment taking up responsibility for the International and EU Affairs Division and the Britain/Northern Ireland Division including the Shared Island Unit.
During this time he was the Taoiseach’s “Sherpa” (senior EU advisor) and he played a key role in the Brexit negotiations.
A graduate of Trinity College, Mr Callinan joined the Department of the Taoiseach in 1998 and has held leadership positions across all major policy areas of the department.
His is assisted by a number of assistant secretaries; Émer Deane who oversees the UK and Northern Ireland section, Helen Blake who oversees international and EU matters, John Shaw in the economic department, Liz Canavan in the public policy section, Mary Keenan in corporate services and Dermot Woods who oversees the Government secretariat and parliamentary liaison unit.
Sinéad McPhillips was appointed in 2025 and was previously assistant secretary general for EU, UK and International Affairs in the department, with responsibilities including leading on agri-food negotiations at EU level, implementing Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan; and managing the department’s overseas network.
She previously served as assistant secretary general with responsibility for agri-food strategy and sectoral development and as the department’s chief economist. Her qualifications include Masters degrees in International Human Rights Law and in Economic Science.
The secretary general of the Department of Children, Disability and Equality is Kevin McCarthy. Mr McCarthy is a career civil servant who spent time in the East Coast Area Health Board before moving to the Department of Education, then Rural and Community Affairs and then his current role.
Oonagh Buckley was announced as the new secretary general of the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications in June 2023, having been serving as interim chair of An Bord Pleanála.
Prior to taking up that role, Ms Buckley was deputy secretary general in the Department of Justice with responsibility for civil law, which includes immigration, courts and legislation. She is a graduate of UCC, the College of Europe and University of London.
She was called to the Bar in 1996. She has an MSc in Business from the Smurfit School in UCD and has been an adjunct professor in the School of Law of UCC since 2017.
Feargal Ó Coigligh was appointed in 2024, having been an assistant secretary in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
Mr Ó Coigligh was assistant secretary for Culture and Arts from 2015 to 2018 where he oversaw the Decade of Centenaries programme, including the successful Ireland 2016 Centenary Programme. Prior to that he had responsibility for Heritage policy, including the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
Jacqui McCrum joined the department as secretary general in August 2020 and describes herself on LinkedIn as a "positive disruptor". Having worked for AIB for over 13 years, she moved on to become the director general and accounting officer in the Office of the Ombudsman, Offices of the Information Commissioner and Commissioner for Environmental Information, Standards in Public Office Commission, Referendum Commission and Commission for Public Service Appointments.
She became the first woman to lead the Department of Defence in 2020.
Bernie McNally was appointed secretary general of the Department of Education in February 2022. She had previously been in the Department of Children where she had responsibility for the disability and youth division.
Prior to that, the Monaghan woman had been director of the Office of the Ombudsman and Information Commissioner.
Appointed in 2023, Declan Hughes joined the Department of Enterprise in 2014 as assistant secretary, heading the Strategic Policy Division. He has led a range of national initiatives, including regional enterprise plans, the Action Plan for Jobs and Brexit and covid-19 business supports.
He is a Bachelor of Commerce graduate and holds a Masters and Postgraduate Diploma from the Smurfit Graduate School of Business, UCD and has completed executive programmes at the Wharton School of Business, Roffey Park Institute and Singapore Civil Service College.
Mr Hughes has nine assistant secretaries who cover EU, digital and Irish enterprise sections as well as economy and workplace sectors.
John Hogan has been in charge at the Department of Finance since 2021. The Offaly man was previously assistant secretary general with responsibility for tax policy and prior to that for banking policy in the Financial Services Division of the Department.
He has worked as financial services counsellor in the Permanent Representation of Ireland to the European Union and has held posts in a number of Government departments including the Department of Education.
In the Department of Foreign Affairs, Joe Hackett is not the only person paid at secretary general level. Ambassador Martin Fraser, the former most senior civil servant in the country who will soon move to the UN, ambassador to France Niall Burgess and ambassador to the US Geraldine Byrne Nason are all at that level.
John Conlan, the department's deputy general secretary and Sonja Hyland who will move to London to take over as ambassador there from Mr Fraser are at deputy secretary level, while a host of ambassadors and other departmental staff are at assistant secretary level.
These include Aingeal O'Donoghue who is Ireland's Permanent Representative to the EU and the ambassador to Canada John Concannon, once tapped to be head of Leo Varadkar's ill-fated Strategic Communications Unit.
Colm O’Reardon was appointed secretary general of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science in September 2023.
Before coming to the department, he was head of the Strategic Economic Development Division in the Department of Finance and was the Labour Party's head of policy and an economic advisor to then Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore from 2011 to 2015.
A brother of MEP Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, he is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, Churchill College Cambridge and Wolfson College Oxford. He holds a D. Phil. in Economics from the University of Oxford, where he was also a Rhodes scholar.
Health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill announced last week that Derek Tierney, currently assistant secretary general at the Department of Health where he leads out on Health Infrastructure, advancing Digital Health and the co-ordination of the Sláintecare Reform agenda, will replace the country's best-paid civil servant Robert Watt.
Prior to his new role, Mr Tierney served as programme director in the Government’s Covid-19 Vaccination Taskforce. He has held senior roles across the Justice and Transport sectors and Central Government with responsibility for large scale programmes, reform delivery, system governance and whole-of-Government responses.
Before moving into the civil service, he held senior roles in a commercial transport, semi-state and the private sector working in pharmaceutical, computer and telecoms industries.
Graham Doyle has been secretary general at the Department of Housing since 2020, having led the Public Transport, Climate Change and Road Safety portfolio at the Department of Transport, Tourism & Sport before going on to lead that department as its secretary general. A chartered accountant, he served as the chief executive of Waterford Airport for nearly seven years.
Doncha O’Sullivan was appointed as the next secretary general of the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration just last week and will begin today.
In his role as deputy secretary for Civil Justice, he led the development, implementation, and critical review of policies and programmes in the areas of immigration, international protection, civil law reform, and access to justice. He also oversaw the management of the department’s relationship with a range of civil justice agencies including the courts service and the Legal Aid Board.
He has also worked across Criminal Policy, Policing, Prisons and EU Affairs. From Cork City, he holds an MEconSc (IPA/Trinity), a BA in Law (DIT), and a BA in Economics and History (UCC).
After a period of being the department's interim head, David Moloney was made secretary general of the Department of Public Expenditure in August 2021.
Prior to this, he was head of the Labour Market and Enterprise Division of the department, with responsibility for various expenditure areas, including Social Protection, Housing, Enterprise and Agriculture and for the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (IGEES).
Over the course of his career in the civil service, Mr Moloney also worked in the Department of the Taoiseach, the Department of Finance and the Department of Health.
Mary Hurley has been in charge of the Department of Rural and Community Development since 2022. She joined from the Department of Housing where she was an assistant secretary local government, fire and emergency management, homelessness, regeneration, community and rural development.
She has worked across a number of departments, including the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, where she played a key role in the 1916 commemorations.
John McKeon joined the Department of Social Protection in October 2010 and was appointed secretary general in July 2017.
He had held assistant secretary positions with responsibility for activation policy, the development and implementation of the Pathways to Work programme, and the modernisation of the department’s public office (Intreo) services. He also held responsibility for staff relations and Finance, Legislation and PRSI policy.
Prior to joining the department he worked for the Department of Post and Telegraphs, Telecom Éireann and Eircom over a period of 31 years in a range of roles. He holds qualifications from DCU, the Institute of Public Administration and Oxford University.
Dubliner Ken Spratt has been secretary general at the Department of Transport since July 2020.
He previously served in six other Government departments including as a diplomat at the Embassy of Ireland in Washington DC, as assistant secretary general for Tourism and Sport and as assistant secretary general for Energy.
He holds a Master of Science degree from Letterkenny Institute of Technology and Ulster University, Jordanstown and is a graduate of Oxford University’s School of Government, Ireland’s Institute of Directors, and the UK Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
He has been highly praised by ministers who have worked with him as both extremely diligent and intelligent.
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