Helen McEntee has returned to work as Minister for Justice after six months of maternity leave.
Ms McEntee became the first minister to give birth while in office.
She had a baby boy in April.
In a video message posted on Instagram on Monday, the Meath East TD said she had “mixed emotions” but was “really looking forward to getting back to work”.
“I’ll be in the constituency today and obviously up to the department later on in the week.”
Heather Humphreys took over responsibility for the Department of Justice during her Fine Gael colleague’s maternity leave.
Speaking in Monaghan last week, Tanaiste Leo Varadkar paid tribute to Ms Humphreys.
“There are many times in the past when the minister held two departments. I think it’s the only time that a minister held three departments for six months, and she’s done an amazing job,” he said.
The Fine Gael leader said he was looking forward to the return of Ms McEntee.
“We are both absolutely delighted at the return of Minister McEntee next week because we’ve been a bit short-staffed on the Fine Gael side of Government for a while, between Minister McEntee on maternity leave and Minister (Simon) Harris on paternity leave and Minister (Simon) Coveney out of the country a lot of times.”
