The enigmatic Irishman hoping to appeal to von der Leyen’s quiet side

BRUSSELS ― Ask around in Dublin and Brussels about the man the Irish government has chosen to send to the EU, and you won’t return much the wiser.

Following the clubbable ebullience of Phil Hogan and then the personable dynamism of Mairead McGuinness, Dublin has selected the quiet, seemingly unambitious figure of former Finance Minister Michael McGrath to be Ireland’s next European commissioner. 

Unlike his two predecessors, who split the last Commission term between them, McGrath will expect to last a full five years ― although if his low profile so far is anything to go by, it might take that long just to get to know him.

“Some people might describe him as inscrutable,” said one of his close advisers who, perhaps in keeping with the personality of the man himself, requested anonymity. 

McGrath is “not somebody with any political enemies, not a factional politician,” the adviser continued. “He’s certainly a believer that hard work brings its own reward, rather than political maneuverings.”

The question, then, remains: Will this quiet unreadability end up being a positive or a negative in the cut-and-thrust of Brussels politics?

No cutter of deals

A sign of his unwillingness to play the political game ― or, as his rivals might put it, his lack of political nous ― came in July when McGrath visited Brussels. By his own account on LinkedIn, he used the time to “read up on the different portfolios, study background material and listen to people with extensive experience of how the EU system works.” He also met with Irish MEPs and the outgoing McGuinness.  

What he didn’t do, however, was meet his new boss, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, according to people with knowledge of the situation. Some wonder whether that could turn out to have been a blunder. 

After all, had he sat down with von der Leyen before the European Parliament vote to secure her second term, McGrath might have been able to cut a deal on a decent job for himself in exchange for promising her Irish votes. Instead, his visit to Brussels came after she had already been confirmed ― and, more crucially, after MEPs from his own party had voted against her.  

The timing and agenda of his Brussels visit were withheld even from some advisers.

Colleagues make a virtue of McGrath’s unwillingness to play games. His modest and reserved nature can make him impossible to read, even to those closest to him, they said, although a second adviser claimed this simply makes McGrath “his own man.”

“He’s very much a guy who hits the ground running, would read up on his brief very quickly, and get to know all of the nuances,” the first official said.

Dublin has selected the quiet, seemingly unambitious figure of former Finance Minister Michael McGrath to be Ireland’s next European commissioner. | Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP via Getty Images

It’s clear, however, that his reluctance to make tie-ups at the right time or wade into factional politics could cost him. Ireland still expects a powerful portfolio ― to be chosen by von der Leyen ― with its wishlist including posts overseeing the economy, budgets, financial services or agriculture. 

McGrath attended an Irish financial services party during his Brussels visit, but the accepted wisdom is that it would be a stretch for Ireland to clinch the financial services top job again, as that was McGuinness’ role. It’s a sensitive beat, too, because Ireland has a prominent finance industry.

Best and brightest

Perhaps, though, McGrath’s outlook on politics was shaped by the career he built in the staid world of accountancy.

A classmate from his time at university in Cork in the 1990s remembers him as “very focused, very driven in his academic studies.” Another described him as “really clever, definitely good at maths,” and “one of the best and brightest students in the class.”

McGrath rose to prominence as opposition spokesperson on finance for the centrist Fianna Fáil party, part of Renew Europe. He became public expenditure minister in 2020, then finance minister in 2022.

His accountancy background does indeed inform his take on politics, said Joan Curry, a longtime civil servant and accountant in Ireland who worked with McGrath on policies like public sector accounting standards reform.  

“It brings the rigor of what we’ve learned as professionals, and the rigor of seeing that being applied in the private sector, and how it supports and drives economic decisions and economic outcomes [in the] public interest,” she said.

During his time as public expenditure minister, McGrath oversaw Ireland’s fiscal response to the Covid-19 pandemic and developed the country’s reform plans under the EU’s recovery and resilience facility ― the post-pandemic fund aimed at boosting the economy. 

Later, as a fiscally conservative finance minister, he ran budget surpluses and reduced the national debt, and established a long-term fund to support government spending from the 2040s on.

Family man

Among his colleagues and friends, McGrath is frequently described as a “family man.”

He met his wife, Sarah, a senior accountant at EY, during their training at KPMG, another accountancy firm. The couple have seven children — which, coincidentally, is how many children von der Leyen has.

The couple “make a good combination” and are “very easy to get on with,” said Terence O’Rourke, a former managing partner at KPMG who worked with McGrath on promoting Irish business. 

It’s unsurprising that as a younger man McGrath was “not somebody for spending their time in the student bars of the city,” according to one of his classmates ― but nor was it all work, work, work. He played the popular Irish team sport of Gaelic football ― he’s now a big Manchester United fan ― and was also involved in student politics.

The Irish government hasn’t complied with von der Leyen’s appeal to EU member countries to send her a female nominee as well as a male one. That may count against him — although as most capitals have ignored the request, perhaps not as much as it might have done.

Whatever job he gets, McGrath looks set to make it more about policy than politics. But that doesn’t mean he’ll be a walkover.

Yes, said former colleague Curry, he has a “mildness” — but there’s “a steeliness about him” too.