No ordinary Josepha

In 2017, Josepha Madigan came out of nowhere to claim a seat at the cabinet table. But her goals don’t end there. Elaine Prendeville meets a thoroughly modern minister

Josepha Madigan, Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Pic: Fergal Phillips

In 2017, Josepha Madigan was appointed by Leo Varadkar to the Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht portfolio. Then aged 48, she cut a cool, calm and collected figure, one eminently capable of holding her own at the cabinet table. She appeared no different to many of the cool and collected, if too few, women that had gone before her – women in the mould of Gemma Hussey, Nora Owen and others. Freshly minted, ...