Profile: Josepha Madigan

JOSEPHA MADIGAN is as close as you could come to finding an overnight success in Irish politics.

It is just over three years since she was first elected as a councillor for the Stillorgan ward of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, and less than two years since she entered Dáil Éireann.

The speed with which she has risen to the Cabinet table as Culture Minister is unprecedented in modern times, but it won’t come as a surprise to many of her colleagues.

As a little-known candidate in the 2016 election, she made headlines by describing plans for a Traveller halting site in the Mount Anville area of South Dublin as a “dreadful waste of taxpayers’ money”.

She denied she was being anti-Traveller. There was also more intrigue during last year’s election campaign when it emerged that, like her former running mate Alan Shatter, she has written a naughty novel.

The self-published book, titled ‘Negligent Behaviour’, came out in 2011 and was billed as the story of a “sassy solicitor” who rises through the ranks of a high-profile Dublin law firm. Ms Madigan also has the notable distinction for a first-time TD of drawing up two pieces of legislation that are being backed by the Government.

The first will speed up the divorce process for separating couples. Ms Madigan, a mother of two boys, backed Leo Varadkar in the Fine Gael leadership contest. She was also the only first-time TD appointed to the Fine Gael team during the Government formation talks.