McEntee: ‘I’ve never ruled anything out, I’ve always said, I’m ambitious

Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee did not rule out contesting a Fine Gael leadership election at some time in the future, in a recent interview.

Speaking to the Irish Times she said "I've never ruled anything out and I've always said, I'm ambitious.

"It is not a way to avoid a question when I say that at the moment, I'm focused on what I'm doing now. Anyone who knows me in my work knows that I give it 120 per cent. "I'm in a busy department and dealing with issues that I feel are important."

In relation to a recent comments that Simon Harris was a Minister for doing things and Minister McEntee was a minister for having babies, she said it was "insulting."

"If you're in a department for five years, you don't avoid things. There's always things you have to deal with. I mean, the idea that you take maternity leave to avoid doing your work is insulting,

"What I notice about comments I've seen is nobody is brave enough to put their name to it. So I mean, I really don't have much time for any of those kinds of comments. We live in 2023. And the idea that just because you're in a senior role, and take maternity leave, that you have those kinds of comments being said it's pretty ridiculous. And I think women looking at that as well are appalled."

She said Simon Harris did a great job, taking on an extra Department, while she was on maternity leave.

"He obviously continued a huge amount of work that I started. I have a Justice plan. So there are clear timelines, but he also put his own stamp on this and he focused on issues that he wanted to focus on. He did a great job."

Regarding the upcoming bill on Hate Speech she said they have included protections for people to be able to say things in general debate.

"There are actual protections in this bill that allows people to say something that another person might not agree with.

"It is for when an individual tries to incite other people to actually hate a person.

"There is a very clear delineation between someone stating a fact or having an opinion, to them crossing a line and encouraging other people to go out and hate that person or the group of people or to be violent against them."