Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill reveals she would “love the opportunity” to be the first female Taoiseach

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, Ireland's Minister for European Affairs, has opened up in a remarkable, sometimes sensational – and often highly entertaining – interview in the new issue of Hot Press, available from Friday 10 May.

This is the Fine Gael TD for Dun Laoghaire's first major interview since her appointment as Minister for European Affairs. Jennifer Carroll MacNeill lays her cards on the table about wanting to one day lead the country – as well as on a host of other topics and issues of the day.

Carroll MacNeill also laments the fact that there have never been any women elected to three of the most important cabinet positions.

“We’ve never had a woman Minister for Finance," she states. "We’ve never had a woman Minister for Foreign Affairs. We’ve never had a woman Taoiseach. That’s three senior positions where we haven’t had women. Are women not relevant to those conversations?”

She warns that the small but noisily threatening rise of sinister far-right elements in Ireland, and staged protests outside the houses of politicians like Helen McEntee and Simon Harris, could result in the murder of an Irish politician, as witnessed with the appalling killing of MPs Jo Cox and David Amess in the UK.

Elsewhere in the interview, conducted by Jason O'Toole, the Minister for European Affairs warns that Ireland could be targeted by Russian cyber-attacks during the upcoming European and local elections, explains why she would not go into coalition with Sinn Fein, and lambasts the Roman Catholic Church for both historical sex abuse scandals and its failures in education.

On a personal level, Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill gives one of the most entertaining answers ever to Hot Press’ famous question about smoking marijuana – which has to be up there with both Bill Clinton’s and Brian Cowen’s often quoted comments on smoking drugs. She also reveals that she sang with a gospel choir on stage both with Aslan and on the virtual Elvis world tour.

And there’s plenty more in what is a very revealing – and highly readable and entertaining – interview.

She makes it clear why she would not consider going into a coalition with Sinn Féin. “I don’t think they function like a normal political party," she insisted. "And I really see difficulty with Sinn Feìin not finding, within themselves, the capacity to condemn the people who committed violence.

"I still see celebrations and commemorations of the people who committed such violence," she adds. And she has plenty more to say on what is a highly emotive issue.

She also tells Hot Press that she has major concerns about the likelihood of cyber meddling of one kind or another during the upcoming European and local elections. “The threat of disinformation, the threat of disruption to democracy," the Minister says, "is just as live here as we go into our electoral cycle, as it has been right across all of the other democracies in Europe."

In a long and fascinating broadside against the Catholic Church, Carroll McNeill insists, “I don’t need to hear anything about morality from the Roman Catholic Church on any matter.”

She also talks about singing with Aslan in The Point, the dangers of online porn, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Eurovision, 'woke' culture – and much, much more.

That's all in the new issue of Hot Press – a special split-cover issue featuring Kings of Leon and Picture This. Make sure to get your copy today to read the interview in full...