Paschal Donohoe

Appointed Ireland’s minister of finance in 2017, Paschal Donohoe oversaw the country’s first budget surplus in more than a decade since the 2006 financial crisis and has dramatically increased spending via public tax increases. A staunch defender of the country’s 12.5 percent corporation tax, he put together the Roadmap on Corporation Tax in 2018 to detail actions Ireland needs to take to maintain balance with the changing international tax environment. Paschal Donohoe began his second term as minister of finance in June 2020. 

In addition to his role in the Irish government, Paschal Donohoe is the president of the Eurogroup. He was appointed to this role in July 2020 and succeeded Mário Centeno, minister of finance for Portugal. Donohoe has worked in the national government since 2013 and has formerly served as minister for public expenditure and reform, minister for transport, tourism and sport, and minister of state for European affairs.  

Earlier in his political career, Paschal Donohoe served as chairman of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Ireland’s Future in Europe and was elected to Seanad Éireann as a senator for the Administrative Panel. Prior to this, he was elected to Dublin City Council in 2004. Before he entered politics, he spent six years as a sales and marketing director with Procter & Gamble. He is a first-class honors graduate of Trinity College Dublin, where he studied economics and politics.