Andrew McDowell (born January 1971) is an Irish economist and government official. He was economic advisor to

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Enda Kenny Enda Kenny (born 24 April 1951) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 2011 to 2017, Leader of Fine Gael from 2002 to 2017, Minister for Defence from May to July 2014 and 2016 to 2017, Leader of the Opposition from ...

from 2011, until he became a vice-president of the

European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the EU Member States. It is one of the largest supranational lenders in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt solutions ...

between 2016 and 2020.

Background

McDowell was born in 1971. He attended

St Conleth's College St. Conleth's College is a private co-educational Catholic school founded on 4 September 1939 by Bernard Sheppard. History The school was named after Conleth, a sixth-century Irish monk who was a moulder of precious metals and whose feast day is ...

. He studied at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

, receiving a BComm, MSc and MBA. He completed a post-graduate fellowship in economics and European studies at the

Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is a graduate school of Johns Hopkins University based in Washington, D.C., United States, with campuses in Bologna, Italy, and Nanjing, China. It is consistently ranked one of th ...

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

. He began his career as an accountant. McDowell then worked as European deputy editor of the

Economist Intelligence Unit The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) is the research and analysis division of the Economist Group, providing forecasting and advisory services through research and analysis, such as monthly country reports, five-year country economic forecasts, ...

and was later chief economist at

Forfás Forfás () was the national policy advisory board for enterprise, trade, science, technology and innovation in Ireland. The agency was established in January 1994 under thIndustrial Development Act, 1993and was run by a board appointed by the Mi ...

Public career

Economic Advisor

He began working for

Fine Gael Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil � ...

as an economic advisor in 2007. He became the party's head of research in 2009. He was the author of many of the party's economic policies, including the proposal to establish

Irish Water ''Uisce Éireann'', formerly and commonly known as Irish Water, is a state-owned water utility company in Ireland. It was created by the Irish Government through the Water Services Act 2013, which formally created the company as a subsidiary of ...

. He was a participant in negotiations between Fine Gael and the Labour Party which led to both parties going into

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

together. Following the formation of the government, he was appointed as one of

's two main advisors, his chief economic advisor. His salary was criticised by the Leader of the Opposition,

Micheál Martin Micheál Martin (; born 1 August 1960) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who is serving as Tánaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs (Ireland), Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence (Ireland), Minister for Defence since Decembe ...

. He was a member of the Economic Management Council, a cabinet sub-committee which took decisions related to the Irish economic crisis. Midway through the coalition, he was the lead negotiator with the Labour Party on policy priorities. He was credited with creating the slogan "keep the recovery going" used by Fine Gael in the

2016 Irish general election The 2016 Irish general election took place on Friday 26 February to elect 158 Teachtaí Dála (TDs) across 40 constituencies to Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's parliament. The 31st Dáil was dissolved by Preside ...

. He was again involved in Fine Gael negotiations following the election. He negotiated with

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christian- ...

to establish a

confidence and supply In a parliamentary democracy based on the Westminster system, confidence and supply are required for a ruling cabinet to retain power in the lower house. A confidence-and-supply agreement is one whereby a party or independent members of parl ...

agreement which led to Fine Gael returning to government.

European Investment Bank

Ireland was allocated one of eight vice president positions at the

in 2016. The Irish government undertook a public competition and put forward McDowell as its nominee. He took up his position on 1 September 2016. His role encompassed oversight of the bank's treasury, economics and evaluation functions and institutional relations in some European and Asian countries. He oversaw lending operations and policy in the energy sector. McDowell was considered for the role of Governor of the

Central Bank of Ireland The Central Bank of Ireland ( ga, Banc Ceannais na hÉireann) is Ireland's central bank, and as such part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). It is the country's financial services regulator for most categories of financial firms ...

in 2019. His four-year term came to an end on 1 September 2020. He was succeeded by .

Commissioner nominee

McDowell was one of two people, along with

Mairead McGuinness Mairead McGuinness (born 13 June 1959) is an Irish politician serving as the European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union since October 2020. A member of Fine Gael, she previously served as Fi ...

, nominated by the

Irish government The Government of Ireland ( ga, Rialtas na hÉireann) is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in Ireland. The Constitution of Ireland vests executive authority in a government which is headed by the , the head of government. The governm ...

on 4 September 2020 to replace

Phil Hogan Phil Hogan (born 4 July 1960) is an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as European Commissioner for Trade between 2019 and 2020, and previously European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development between 2014 and 2019. He previously ...

on the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; Albrecht, born 8 October 1958) is a German politician who has been serving as the president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 an ...

interviewed McDowell and McGuinness, before selecting McGuinness for her College of Commissioners on 8 September 2020.

Personal life

McDowell is married with children. His second cousin is the former

Tánaiste The Tánaiste ( , ) is the deputy head of the government of Ireland and thus holder of its second-most senior office. The Tánaiste is appointed by the President of Ireland on the advice of the Taoiseach. The current office holder is former Taoi ...

Michael McDowell.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcdowell, Andrew 1971 births Alumni of University College Dublin 21st-century Irish economists People educated at St Conleth's College Irish officials of the European Union Living people Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies alumni