Jennifer Carroll MacNeill

Carroll MacNeill studied Economics and Political Science at Trinity College Dublin before completing a PhD in public policy and Political Science.[4]

She was a policy advisor to Frances Fitzgerald from April 2011 until June 2013. She then worked for the then Minister for Justice and Equality Alan Shatter from September 2013 until his resignation in May 2014. She subsequently took a break from politics, not returning until October 2017 when she came to the aid of Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government Eoghan Murphy, where she advised him on the National Planning Framework and the creation of the Land Development Agency. She worked with Murphy's office until January 2019 when she left to work for a Public Relations firm.[4]

In May 2019, she was elected to Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council for the Killiney-Shankill local electoral area, a position she held until her election as a TD in February 2020.

In early 2020, MacNeill was selected internally by the Fine Gael branch of Dún Laoghaire to replace Maria Bailey on the ticket for the 2020 general election, following "Swinggate", a controversy revolving around a dubious legal claim made by Bailey that resulted in her subsequent deselection.[4]

Carroll MacNeill is the author of The Politics of Judicial Selection in Ireland, published in 2016 by the Four Courts Press.[5][6][3][7] Her thesis was given an academic award before being published as a book.[8] David Gwynn Morgan of The Irish Times said of it; '"this book by an author of unusual but apt pedigree packs in a lot of new, useful information in a field crying out for it. It is also timely and so is likely to be influential'"[9]

She is married to former Irish rugby player Hugo MacNeill, the former managing director of Goldman Sachs Investment Banking in Ireland. The couple have one son.[10]

• Jennifer Carroll MacNeill's page on the Fine Gael website