THE GOVERNMENT has announced the full list of Ministers of State following their names being approved by Cabinet yesterday morning.
The complement of 15 new Ministers of State includes nine Fine Gael TDs and six from the Labour Party.
During the election campaign, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said Fine Gael would reduce the number of Ministers of State to 12.
The promised reduction did not transpire. Fine Gael’s Government spokesman said yesterday that the number of junior ministers was decided on during the Coalition negotiations between both parties.
There are some surprises among the new Ministers of State – most notably the appointment of Dublin South East TD Lucinda Creighton as Minister of State for European Affairs and the appointment of the newly elected Labour Deputy for Tipperary North Alan Kelly as Minister of State for Public and Commuter Transport.
Ms Creighton was a vocal opponent of Mr Kenny during the leadership challenge last year, later losing her frontbench position.
However, she is an expert on European affairs and, according to colleagues, understands this brief better than anybody else in the parliamentary party. The party was also conscious of gender balance.
His North Munster location may have helped Mr Kelly, a former senator and MEP.
In all there are now four women junior ministers, including three from the Labour Party. The three are: Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West), Minister of State for Primary Care at the Department of Health; Jan O’Sullivan (Limerick City), Minister of State for Trade and Development (including overseas aid) at foreign affairs; and Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central), Minister of State for Disability.
The inclusion of the three women junior ministers was being portrayed yesterday as a response by Labour to the criticism of leader Eamon Gilmore’s decision to appoint Brendan Howlin and not Joan Burton to the senior public expenditure and reform portfolio, and to include only one woman in the five promoted to senior ranks.
All Fine Gael TDs said to be in contention for senior ministerial roles but who were not appointed have been given the junior positions with the most responsibility.
They include Fergus O’Dowd, who will be responsible for implementing Fine Gael’s ambitious jobs, energy and utility plan NewEra, and Brian Hayes, who is appointed to the Department of Finance with responsibility for the OPW and has a role in public sector reform.
The appointment of Donegal South West TD Dinny McGinley as Minister of State for the Gaeltacht was expected, as was the promotion of two other west of Ireland deputies, Michael Ring (Mayo) and John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim). The inclusion of former PD leader Ciarán Cannon (Galway East) was also seen as a surprise.
The annual salary of a Minister of State (including Dáil salary) will drop from €139,266 to €130,042 following cuts announced by the Government this week. When the pension levy is deducted, the net salary falls to €118,438.
