FINE GAEL POLITICIAN Mairead McGuinness has said she’s “made no decision” on making a presidential bid following Ryanair CEO Micheal O’Leary saying he would back her to take the job.

O’Leary told the Irish Independent in reply to whether he would consider running himself that it was “the most useless office in the country”.

“It’s the most overpaid but useless office in the country,” he continued. “I have a real job, I don’t really want a makey-uppy job.

“If Mairead McGuinness decides to run, I’d be a very strong supporter of hers. I think she did a great job when she was working in agricultural journalism, she’s been an amazing success in Europe, in the European Parliament.

“Every time she speaks, she speaks well, and well on behalf of Ireland. You would be very proud to have her as our next president. She’d certainly be a significant upgrade on the current incumbent.”

Asked today on Saturday with Colm Ó Mongáin on RTÉ about whether she was considering running, McGuinness said, “I’ve been very clear about this. I’ve made no decision. People know that I ran, I think, 14 years ago at this stage, and our party has not made any decision around when conventions might be had.”

McGuinness has most recently served as the European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union, from October 2020 to November 2024. She said that since she completed her previous role, she is trying to “take a breather”.

“I’m not as effective at that as I should be, and I haven’t made any big decisions about what I’m going to do for the future. But rest assured, no more than these topics we’re discussing, I keep a close eye on what’s happening, not just in Europe, but generally. And I don’t think that appetite for an interest in affairs will change, but no decision.”

Tariffs

More generally, McGuinness spoke on the programme about the threat of tariffs being imposed upon Irish exports to the US, which Trump has said will be announced on 2 April – or “liberation day”.

While the only concrete tariffs that have been announced is a 25% tariff placed on all cars manufactured outside of the US, the fear within Ireland is on the fate of its pharmaceutical and technological industries.

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Yesterday, the Taoiseach said that the government’s priority is to protect Irish jobs as the threat of the trade war looms, but he also voiced concern for the pharmaceutical industry in Ireland. He said that a large amount of product manufactured in Ireland is “intermediate product” that is needed for the completion of products manufactured in the US.

He said that the pharmaceutical companies in Ireland are an integrated supply chain between their bases in Ireland and their US parents, and warned that the tariffs will cause damage to the companies themselves. He also warned that tariffs will increase the cost of medication.

McGuinness echoed the Taoiseach’s sentiments today, saying, “We’re talking about medicines in Ireland, and I think we need to be very focused on this. We’re talking about people’s lives, the lives of American families who rely on cancer treatments or diabetic medications that will come potentially from Ireland or Europe to the US market.

“This is a supply chain which cannot be disrupted or people will die. And I think in all of our talk about GDP and tariffs and risks to our economy and they are real, there is a fundamental issue here about patients and people. I would hope that patient advocacy groups across the US would begin to look at this, because tariffs will make drugs more expensive in the US.”