Ireland’s EU Commissioner-designate Michael McGrath has welcomed his appointment as the EU’s justice commissioner, describing the rule of law as “a fundamental value of the European Union”.

Speaking to RTÉ News following the announcement of the different portfolios by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, he acknowledged that she had a difficult job in allocating the different posts.

“I think the president had a number of challenges and many factors to weigh up in allocating the portfolios in terms of gender, geography, country size, and, of course, political groupings as well, but I am satisfied that what I and Ireland have been allocated is a very significant and substantive portfolio, and clearly she has trust in me personally in delivering on what is going to be a complex and a challenging role over the next number of years,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Tánaiste has said the failure of Fianna Fáil’s MEPs to back Ms von der Leyen’s nomination for president of the European Commission was not a factor in the post assigned to Mr McGrath.

Micheál Martin said Ms von der Leyen is “long past” that parliamentary vote and was impressed with the former finance minister after meeting him.

The Tánaiste said he had told the European Commission President that Mr McGrath was a key anchor in the Government in Ireland over the last four years.

In relation to his new role, Mr McGrath said there had been slippage in recent times in terms of member states upholding the rule of law.

He said: “I think it’s not too much to ask that if a country wants to have all of the benefits of European Union membership, then you have to abide by the same rules as everybody else.

“So working with that as the priority, working on the rights of consumers – 450 million consumers across the European Union, where more and more transactions are conducted online on a cross border basis – working with the member states and the national authorities, I really look forward to getting stuck into that and doing all that I can to uphold and protect the interests of consumers throughout the European Union.”

Mr McGrath said he was satisfied with the lobbying efforts of the Irish Government.

Read more: What are Commissioner McGrath’s new responsibilities?

“Overall, I’ve had excellent support from government colleagues, and I do want to thank the Taoiseach, to thank the Tánaiste for their engagement with President von der Leyen over recent weeks,” he said.

Mr McGrath said the timing of the government nomination in late June, which has been criticised by some, given the Taoiseach’s early and explicit rejection of nominating a female as well as male candidate, was a function of the domestic political and budgetary cycle.

He said: “An important summer economic statement had to be finalised, which laid the parameters and the groundwork for the budget on the first of October.

“So I think it was understandable that a new finance minister would have to be given the time and space to prepare for those key milestones.

“And of course, we are coming up to a general election, so I think that explains why the Irish nomination was comparatively early relative to others. But once the nomination was made, I got excellent support, including from the officials that we have representing us in Brussels, in the [Irish] Permanent Representation [to the EU].

“The Taoiseach and Tánaiste did lend their full support, engaged directly with President von der Leyen, and we are very satisfied with the outcome in the end.”

Mr McGrath said he was waiting for clarification on whether or not he would have responsibility for GDPR as justice commissioner.

Observers have said this would be a sensitive issue given the scale of global tech corporations operating in Ireland.

Asked if his family would be moving to Brussels, Mr McGrath said he would be “feeling his way” through the next weeks before coming to a decision, saying his primary focus would be on the European Parliament hearings into his designation as Justice Commissioner.

“Longer term decisions about family and so on will be for down the line, but it’s about getting over that significant hurdle now of the hearing in the European Parliament first.”

Additional reporting Mícheál Lehane