Patricia Reilly, the deputy chief veterinary officer at the Department of Agriculture, is set to return to Brussels, I’m hearing.

The Cavan native is to take up the pivotal role of chef de cabinet for European Commissioner Mairead McGuinness.

No stranger to Brussels, Reilly previously spent a decade working in the Commission, at first in then-Commissioner Máire Geoghegan Quinn’s cabinet, focused on research, innovation and science.

She then worked with Education Commissioner Navracsics, still working in innovation, but also higher education, and then as deputy head of the Commission cabinet itself.