Predict Front Bench in FG/Lab Coalition

SB-08

It's obvious the next Govt will be made up of FG and Labour - but what will the front bench look like? FG will obviously be the bigger party and therefor likely to get Enda as the Taoiseach and also the Minister Of Finance for either Noonan or Richard Bruton. What about the rest of the front bench though? I reckon it will look something along these lines.

Taoiseach : Enda Kenny
Tánaiste: Eamon Gilmore

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: Phil Hogan
Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism: Eamon Gilmore
Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Leo Varadkar
Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Fergus O'Dowd
Minister for Defence: Pat Rabbitte
Minister for Education and Science: Richard Bruton
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Joan Burton
Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government: Michael Ring
Minister for Finance: Michael Noonan
Minister for Foreign Affairs: Ruari Quinn
Minister for Health and Children: James Reilly
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform: Alan Shatter
Minister for Social and Family Affairs: Róisín Shortall
Minister for Transport: Simon Coveny

InchicoreDude

I'd be fairly confident Brian Hayes would get a place in there somehow.

thebigcheese22

SB-08 wrote: »

It's obvious the next Govt will be made up of FG and Labour - but what will the front bench look like? FG will obviously be the bigger party and therefor likely to get Enda as the Taoiseach and also the Minister Of Finance for either Noonan or Richard Burton. What about the rest of the front bench though? I reckon it will look something along these lines.

Taoiseach : Enda Kenny
Tánaiste: Eamon Gilmore

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: Sean Barett
Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism: Eamon Gilmore
Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Leo Varadkar
Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Fergus O'Dowd
Minister for Defence: Pat Rabbitte
Minister for Education and Science: Richard Bruton
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Joan Burton
Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government: Michael Ring
Minister for Finance: Michael Noonan
Minister for Foreign Affairs: Ruari Quinn
Minister for Health and Children: James Reilly
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform: Alan Shatter
Minister for Social and Family Affairs: Róisín Shortall
Minister for Transport: Simon Coveny

No chance of FG getting Taoiseach and Minister for Finance - I'd say Pat Rabitte will get MoF. Also I'd see Gilmore getting Minister of Foreign Affairs or some more important post. Labour will have a strong hand and will get a lot of important ministries.

gandalf

thebigcheese22 wrote: »

No chance of FG getting Taoiseach and Minister for Finance - I'd say Pat Rabitte will get MoF. Also I'd see Gilmore getting Minister of Foreign Affairs or some more important post. Labour will have a strong hand and will get a lot of important ministries.

I disagree given they have two of the best candidates for the position I think that the Minister for Finance will come from FG.

supersean1999

thebigcheese22 wrote: »

No chance of FG getting Taoiseach and Minister for Finance - I'd say Pat Rabitte will get MoF. Also I'd see Gilmore getting Minister of Foreign Affairs or some more important post. Labour will have a strong hand and will get a lot of important ministries.

of course they could get both,

SB-08

thebigcheese22 wrote: »

No chance of FG getting Taoiseach and Minister for Finance - I'd say Pat Rabitte will get MoF. Also I'd see Gilmore getting Minister of Foreign Affairs or some more important post. Labour will have a strong hand and will get a lot of important ministries.

Really? If current polls translate then FG will be significantly larger in Dail and will surely be in the stronger position and not give away the most important Ministry there is (Finance)?

Also - seeing as Moan Burton is the Finance SP for Labour now - how will the Rabbitte get the job? Clearly he, along with Quinn are both far more competent and capable for the post of Finance but is it really likely?

I don't think FG will give away MoF - they would only do so if they were only slightly more popular than Labour which is not looking like the case based on the 15% more support. Noonan or Bruton will be MoF in my view with Moan getting Enterprise. If Noonan gets MoF Bruton will likely be in Education as he has previously indicated that is his preferable outcome.

You are probably right about Gilmore though - Foreign Affairs would suit him however Quinn would also be ideal for that position, if not Education.

supersean1999

there is a lot to choose from its a stong line up for sure

Badabing

If it's say FG 60 Lab 40 after the election Labour would demand the finance minister, with Fine Gael getting extra junior jobs.

supersean1999

Badabing wrote: »

If it's say FG 60 Lab 40 after the election Labour would demand the finance minister, with Fine Gael getting extra junior jobs.[/QUOT
and what would they do if fg refused, join sinn fein and the independents, i doubt it

steelcityblues

Think Burton is almost guaranteed the MFF position unfortunately.

Wish Michael Ring could be confined to the backbenches - can't stand him and he's all parish pump.

deanh

Is it possible that they might split Finance into two ministeries? One dealing with policy/ Strategy/ budget (Noonan), the other dealing with departmental spending/ regulation/ reform (Burton). This approach works in other countries. In Britain, there is the Chancelor (Conservative) and the Treasury Secretary (Liberal Democrat)

Rabble Rabble

The reason the vote FG is get Noonan in as Finance minister. We have to get tough with Europe.

SB-08

Rabble Rabble wrote: »

The reason the vote FG is get Noonan in as Finance minister. We have to get tough with Europe.

Surely Moan would be ideal for that? Her endless moaning would wear Olly Rehn and the lads down to such an extent we probably won't have to pay any interest by the time she in finished with them. "Can I just sayyyyyyyyyyyy"

I like the idea about splitting Finance into two departments. Forget Joan though - Patt Rabbitte or Ruari Quinn working alongside Noonan or Richard Bruton would be a great team.

SB-08

InchicoreDude wrote: »

I'd be fairly confident Brian Hayes would get a place in there somehow.

Will Enda have forgiven him by then though?;)

I forgot Phil Hogan. He would probably be more likely than Sean Barrett tbh.

Corsendonk

How about a Labour Agriculture Minister? Radical thinking I admit but it is the Food Industry brief too.

hardCopy

deanh wrote: »

Is it possible that they might split Finance into two ministeries? One dealing with policy/ Strategy/ budget (Noonan), the other dealing with departmental spending/ regulation/ reform (Burton). This approach works in other countries. In Britain, there is the Chancelor (Conservative) and the Treasury Secretary (Liberal Democrat)

Long term maybe, but I don't think I'd like to see this now, the department have enough to be doing without spending time and money on reorganisation and rebranding

Tipp Man

Rabble Rabble wrote: »

The reason the vote FG is get Noonan in as Finance minister. We have to get tough with Europe.

More importantly we have to get tough with our unions, our public sector and our welfare. Sort them out and the demands on the European loans are less.

We need to get our house in order pronto

Flimbos

I'd like to see Richard Bruton get Finance. Would Kenny have him back though??

Haven't Fine Gael also proposed a new cabinet-level ministerial position for public sector reform (taking over existing elements of both the Dept of Finance and Dept of the Taoiseach)?

Fitzerb

SB-08 wrote: »

It's obvious the next Govt will be made up of FG and Labour - but what will the front bench look like? FG will obviously be the bigger party and therefor likely to get Enda as the Taoiseach and also the Minister Of Finance for either Noonan or Richard Bruton. What about the rest of the front bench though? I reckon it will look something along these lines.

Taoiseach : Enda Kenny
Tánaiste: Eamon Gilmore

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: Phil Hogan
Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism: Eamon Gilmore
Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Leo Varadkar
Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Fergus O'Dowd
Minister for Defence: Pat Rabbitte
Minister for Education and Science: Richard Bruton
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Joan Burton
Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government: Michael Ring
Minister for Finance: Michael Noonan
Minister for Foreign Affairs: Ruari Quinn
Minister for Health and Children: James Reilly He would frighten the children
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform: Alan Shatter
Minister for Social and Family Affairs: Róisín Shortall
Minister for Transport: Simon Coveny

Good call other than that

The Volt

Tipp Man wrote: »

More importantly we have to get tough with our unions, our public sector and our welfare. Sort them out and the demands on the European loans are less.

We need to get our house in order pronto

I'm sick of this. What does 'get tough with the unions' constitute?

SB-08

Flimbos wrote: »

I'd like to see Richard Bruton get Finance. Would Kenny have him back though??

It depends really - apparently they have been close friends for 25 years - so once in power perhaps Enda would rather have Richard by his side instead of Noonan. I don't detect any sort of close relationship between those two in terms of working together. Noonan has proven very impressive though, however I think the public would perhaps prefer Bruton as Finance Minister. Noonan has a very unique style -he has a huge grasp of financial issues but I am not sure he would prove popular among the public. He clearly won the 02 Leaders Debate again Bertie, yet FG did disastrously in the election. There is something cold and impersonal about his approach, so in that regard Bruton would be better. However I think in terms of ability they are pretty much equal.

In relation to the prospect of Labour getting enough seats for them to be in a position to negotiation as Minister Of Finance - logically the MoF has to work very closely with the Taoiseach and I can't see Moan working well with Enda tbh - Pat Rabbitte and Enda have always got on well and have previously worked closely together in the last election so on reflection I suppose Rabbitte is highly likely to be the MoF.

RichieC

Voltwad wrote: »

I'm sick of this. What does 'get tough with the unions' constitute?

I presume its chucking PS workers out of jobs and onto the welfare that ahem...they're also getting tough with.

sparkling sea

SB-08 wrote: »

It's obvious the next Govt will be made up of FG and Labour - but what will the front bench look like? FG will obviously be the bigger party and therefor likely to get Enda as the Taoiseach and also the Minister Of Finance for either Noonan or Richard Bruton. What about the rest of the front bench though? I reckon it will look something along these lines.

Taoiseach : Enda Kenny - Mayo
Tánaiste: Eamon Gilmore- Dún Laoghaire

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: Phil Hogan -Carlow/ Kilkenny
Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism: Eamon Gilmore - Dún Laoghaire
Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Leo Varadkar -Dublin West
Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Fergus O'Dowd -Louth
Minister for Defence: Pat Rabbitte- Dublin South West
Minister for Education and Science: Richard Bruton -Dublin North Central
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Joan Burton -Dublin West
Minister for the Environment, Heritage, Local Government: Michael Ring -Mayo
Minister for Finance: Michael Noonan -Limerick East
Minister for Foreign Affairs: Ruari Quinn - Dublin South East
Minister for Health and Children: James Reilly -Dublin North
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform: Alan Shatter -Dublin South
Minister for Social and Family Affairs: Róisín Shortall - Dublin North West
Minister for Transport: Simon Coveny - Cork South Central

Having typed in the constituencies I have to wonder will geograhpy not play a part ? I don't think is should do personally but it would be very unusal if it didn't.

The geographical make up of the cabinet is likely to be
Ministers from Dublin - 10
Ministers from Mayo - 2
Ministers form Carlow/Kilkenny -1
Ministers from Cork -1
Ministers form Limerick -1
Ministers from Louth - 1

Agree the Dept of Finance is likely to be split in to 2 Depts

Colmo52

Fitzerb wrote: »

Minister for Health and Children: James Reilly He would frighten the children


Good call other than that

And Mary Harney dosen't????

Balmed Out

Colmo52 wrote: »

And Mary Harney dosen't????

no, Marys a big cuddly teddybear