The Dealer has heard that junior agriculture minister Pippa Hackett has recruited a new special adviser.

Declan O’Rourke has put his career as a solicitor with McCann Fitzgerald on hold to go and advise the minister.

He steps into the shoes of someone he knows well – his mother, Caroline Murphy, who is leaving her position as Hackett’s special adviser and prior to that worked in the same role for Charlie Flanagan. Declan’s father is the retired RTÉ presenter Seán O’Rourke, who’s also well used to handling politicians.