New Cabinet announced

Permabear

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mike65

Minister for Social Protection: Joan Burton
Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform: Brendan Howlin

Interesting! Was this the reason they were late back?

Otherwise as expected pretty much - Shatter for justice is a smart move, ditto Ruairi Quinn in Education and Skills.

RonMexico

Minister for Children WTF

Brenireland

I like the look of it anyhow,Although I would have liked Burton on the back benches.

Richard Bruton is my One To Watch.

Corsendonk

Defence in with Justice, must be to stop that Army Coup that we heard about! Turn part of the army into a para-military police force?

ei.sdraob

Bruton is being given one of the most difficult departments because he stood up against Enda?

mike65

RonMexico wrote: »

Minister for Children WTF

Given the way the state has abused children since 1922 its about time something serious was done esp with a referendum due this year.

steelcityblues

mike65 wrote: »

Given the way the state has abused children since 1922 its about time something serious was done esp with a referendum due this year.

Think she's a smart choice being from the social liberal wing of FG.

d'Oracle

RonMexico wrote: »

Minister for Children WTF

It is a minister whose responsibility is to Children and childrens issues.

Absolutely vital. Being as the previous Junior ministry was just not working and there are massive issues with regard to how children are being treated in this country.

d'Oracle

ei.sdraob wrote: »

Bruton is being given one of the most difficult departments because he stood up against Enda?

What makes you think its because of that?

Poccington

Corsendonk wrote: »

Defence in with Justice, must be to stop that Army Coup that we heard about! Turn part of the army into a para-military police force?

Defence and Justice are two fields that cross each other frequently enough. Not suprised to see them being dealt with by one Minister, makes sense I suppose.

Although I would've rathered Stanton or Timmins get their hands on Defence, as they actually have some experience in the DF.

d'Oracle

feelingstressed wrote: »

Is Minister for Children a full cabinet level position now?

I thought it was a junior portfolio under Health

Yes and it was, although it was also under Justice and Social and Family.

Corsendonk

Permabear wrote: »

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Whats the day jobs of the new cabinet since a leading gripe was the lack of private sector experience?

ei.sdraob

d'Oracle wrote: »

What makes you think its because of that?

Jobs being the most important issue, if none materialize the blame falls on him.

Pete_Cavan

I have no real issues with the ministers appointed to each portfolio, it is the portfolios themselves I dont like. A few of them look like they didnt know what to do so just lumped the odd ones together at the end. I mean Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport - what da f*ck? Sport has nothing to do with transport. Transport, Communications and Energy should have been amalgamated under one infrastructure department. Environment is the obvious home for Natural Resourses. Having said that, putting Defence in with Justice is logical.

ei.sdraob

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

I have no real issues with the ministers appointed to each portfolio, it is the portfolios themselves I dont like. A few of them look like they didnt know what to do so just lumped the odd ones together at the end. I mean Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport - what da f*ck? Sport has nothing to do with transport. Transport, Communications and Energy should have been amalgamated under one infrastructure department. Environment is the obvious home for Natural Resourses. Having said that, putting Defence in with Justice is logical.

Considering we have such a large government coalition now and no lack of TDs twiddling thumbs now

can some of these portfolios not be split up? such as having a minister of Sport, minister for Energy, minister for Comms and so on

d'Oracle

ei.sdraob wrote: »

Jobs being the most important issue, if none materialize the blame falls on him.

Oh right.

I would have thought it was his Intelligence, experience and skills....but whichever.

PeakOutput

ei.sdraob wrote: »

Jobs being the most important issue, if none materialize the blame falls on him.

at the same time though he is the best man they have so he will take the blame but he also has the best chance of succeding

mike65

ei.sdraob wrote: »

Considering we have such a large government coalition now and no lack of TDs twiddling thumbs now

can some of these portfolios not be split up? such as having a minister of Sport, minister for Energy, minister for Comms and so on

The idea is not to scatter cabinet/junior roles about the place like confetti as every ministry comes with a pretty big overhead of staff, offices etc.

d'Oracle

ei.sdraob wrote: »

Considering we have such a large government coalition now and no lack of TDs twiddling thumbs now

can some of these portfolios not be split up? such as having a minister of Sport, minister for Energy, minister for Comms and so on

No.
The cabinet is 15 people. According to the constitution.

The new ministry structures are probably done on priority.
Sport isn't a massive priority in this climate so it is most likely being demoted to a junior ministry.

hardCopy

ei.sdraob wrote: »

Considering we have such a large government coalition now and no lack of TDs twiddling thumbs now

can some of these portfolios not be split up? such as having a minister of Sport, minister for Energy, minister for Comms and so on

AFAIK there's a constitutional cap on the number of ministries

Permabear

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mike65

Is there a limit of juniors?

Scofflaw

mike65 wrote: »

Is there a limit of juniors?

No limit, as far as I know.

cordially,
Scofflaw

d'Oracle

mike65 wrote: »

Is there a limit of juniors?

20 or 15 according to Wiki.
Not sure if Cowan actually changed the law to 15 or if he just only hired 15.

Denerick

Fine Gael pulled a very smart move here, giving all the departments that will deliver the bad news to Labour (Education, social protection, social welfare)

d'Oracle

Denerick wrote: »

Fine Gael pulled a very smart move here, giving all the departments that will deliver the bad news to Labour (Education, social protection, social welfare)

Social protection is social welfare.
And I'd say that Labour probably insisted on those briefs.
Being that they are Labour.

NSNO

Denerick wrote: »

Fine Gael pulled a very smart move here, giving all the departments that will deliver the bad news to Labour (Education, social protection, social welfare)

Or maybe the Labour leadership realised that they were going to take a hammering for governing anyway and decided to try and protect the most vulnerable? I've heard many Labour activists in the last few days say that going in Government would be a waste if we didn't get Social Protection and Education.

Scofflaw

No limit, as far as I know.

cordially,
Scofflaw

d'Oracle wrote: »

20 or 15 according to Wiki.
Not sure if Cowan actually changed the law to 15 or if he just only hired 15.

Apologies - d'Oracle is correct there. There's no Constitutional limit, but there's a statutory limit, which as far as I can see is still 20, the 2007 amendment not having been further amended.

cordially,
Scofflaw

Permabear

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d'Oracle

Permabear wrote: »

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I agree with this in part.
I reckon a lot of these broader ministries changing as things evolve.

I can see Children going back to a Junior Ministry in a few years when we have caught up with civilised society to some degree.

Duiske

‘Super junior’ at Department of the Environment – Willie Penrose.

What is this ? Can't say i've heard of a Super Junior Minister before.

Soldie

I'm glad Joan Burton didn't get either of the finance portfolios.

It would have been funny if Fine Gael trolled the Shinners by giving foreign affairs to Alan Shatter!

Sierra Oscar

It looks like the Labour party was on the brink over the cabinet appointments.

Appears that a major internal row in Labour over who got what was the cause of today's delay in announcing new Cabinet

https://twitter.com/fergalrte

A very shaky start.

Rabble Rabble

well, whatever. wish them well. a competent enough group of individuals.

mike65

Duiske wrote: »

‘Super junior’ at Department of the Environment – Willie Penrose.

What is this ? Can't say i've heard of a Super Junior Minister before.

Super Junior is the revival of a role last held by Pat Rabbitte in the 1994-97 government, its a sop to the junior partner. No vote but at the top table.

cutymonalisa

RonMexico wrote: »

Minister for Children WTF

Errrr WTF are you implying? Having a full Minister for Children is possibly the most important change in cabinet formation in years

goose2005

mike65 wrote: »

Is there a limit of juniors?

I don't think they're mentioned in the constitution, so no.

Corsendonk wrote: »

Whats the day jobs of the new cabinet since a leading gripe was the lack of private sector experience?

Kenny - a few years as a primary school teacher.
Gilmore - President of the Union of Students in Ireland, trade union organiser
Coveney - a few years on his dad's farm
Deenihan - teacher
Fitzgerald - social worker
Rabbitte - President of the Union of Students in Ireland, trade union organiser
Quinn - architect with Dublin Corporation
R Bruton - Research Economist with the ESRI
Hogan - teacher
Penrose - barrister
Noonan - secondary teacher
Reilly - doctor, head of IMO
Shatter - lawyer
Howlin - primary teacher
Burton - Chartered Accountant, lecturer
Varadkar - doctor

Einhard

Permabear wrote: »

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Biggest spending in a time of austerity also equates to biggest cut backs. They won't have any money to lavish on pet projects, and will be the faces of unpopular expenditure restrictions. Very much a poisoned chalice I would have thought.

Rubik.

Permabear wrote: »

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Kenny is expected to announce a promise to reshuffle the cabinet before the end 2013, while ministers will move around - I would expect FG and Labour to keep the same portfolios in the event of a reshuffle.

Pighead

Was Fergus Dowd not widely expected to get a ministerial position? Seen an interview with him after the election and i thought it was being implied that he was a cert for a role.

Marcusm

Poccington wrote: »

Defence and Justice are two fields that cross each other frequently enough. Not suprised to see them being dealt with by one Minister, makes sense I suppose.

Although I would've rathered Stanton or Timmins get their hands on Defence, as they actually have some experience in the DF.

And that really worked when Sean Doherty, an ex Garda, was made Minister for Justice. It's a bit like the James Reilly appointment; the person in question undoubtedly has significant experience of the health service but from the perspective of an entrenched vested interest. I'd rather see mre medics senior civil servants ad administrators to provid their in-depth knowledge rather than to be made minister.

Poccington

Marcusm wrote: »

And that really worked when Sean Doherty, an ex Garda, was made Minister for Justice. It's a bit like the James Reilly appointment; the person in question undoubtedly has significant experience of the health service but from the perspective of an entrenched vested interest. I'd rather see mre medics senior civil servants ad administrators to provid their in-depth knowledge rather than to be made minister.

There certainly is merit to your point.

I just don't see what someone who has zero experience and I firmly believe in most cases, zero serious interest in Defence can bring to the Defence portfolio. Hopefully there'll be a Junior Minister appointed to deal with Defence.

Still, this Government is starting with a clean slate so I look forward to seeing what Shatter does with the place. Hopefully it's good, rather than bad.

pragmatic1

Looks like a very strong cabinet to me. Glad to see Bruton, Quinn and Rabbitte.

baalthor

Kenny - Leader of FG
Gilmore - Leader of Labour
Rabbitte - Former Labour leader
Quinn - Former Labour leader and Deputy leader
R Bruton - Former FG deputy leader and leadership candidate
Hogan - Former FG leadership candidate
Noonan - Former FG leader
Reilly - Deputy leader of FG
Howlin - Former deputy leader of Labour and leadership candidate
Burton - Deputy leader of Labour
Varadkar - Future leader of FG

Our new rulers have a lot of leadership experience !

sparkling sea

Same old, same old in my opinion, Joan Burton is a highly respected accountant and Brendan Howlin a school teacher: so in traditional Irish style you can guess who got the Public Expenditure and Reform portfolio - No not the accountant but instead the teacher, crazy.

Really happy Alan Shatter got justice, expect to see the the referendum on constitutional rights for children in the near future.

How will James Reilly manage discussion with the Consultants, this will be very interesting indeed.

Very disappointed the accountant lost out to the teacher though

Valmont

Duiske wrote: »

Super Junior Minister before.

Only in Ireland... I swear it's a title from Father Ted or something.

Lapin

cutymonalisa wrote: »

Having a full Minister for Children is possibly the most important change in cabinet formation in years

Well said.

For far too long the last government payed lip service to the issue of children's rights.

Their continued fobbing off of the promised referendum to enact legislation for the protection of all children is a bloody disgrace.

This referendum was promised to take place within "six months" by the then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. That was back in 2005. Since then the issue has been kicked around from pillar to post and put on the long finger by a Fianna Fáil led government who obviously didn't give a damn.

For a nation whose proclamation of Independence calls for "cherishing all the children of the nation equally", we have a shameful record of protecting our most vulnerable.

The creation of a designated Department for Children has proven to me that the new government is serious about political reform.

Even if the department was set up as a one term ministry to concentrate on securing equal rights to education, healthcare, security, and welfare for children with special educational needs, (rather than the platitudes and búll**** promises they have been getting for years), it will have achieved far more in 5 years than anything that has been done in the last 14 years.

Generations of people in this country, of all abilities, have lost out on much of the chances they should have been offered in adulthood due to the treatment (or lack of) they received in childhood. A dedicated department for children won't have any magic wands, but it should go a long way towards eliminating the denial of opportunities for children and adults in generations to come.

I don't know if I'm more surprised by the reaction of some who question the need for such an important department, or by the fact that it wasn't established years ago.

I'm not a member of any political party nor do I have any affiliations.

But today I say - Well done Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

Sir Oxman

mike65 wrote: »

Super Junior is the revival of a role last held by Pat Rabbitte in the 1994-97 government, its a sop to the junior partner. No vote but at the top table.

Didn't Barry Andrews get a non-voting spot at the cabinet as Minister for Children?

ei.sdraob

baalthor wrote: »

Our new rulers have a lot of leadership experience !

I for one welcome our new blue/red stripped overlords, they cant possibly be any worse than the green jersey brigade before
knocks wood table

Sir Oxman

Lots of noise on the late radio political shows about the geographic composition of the cabinet.
11 urban (mostly Dublin) ministers and 4 rural.

I wonder is this a very strong signal that Kenny and Gilmore are serious about political reform? I am encouraged by it - no pandering to the ludicrous system of geographic cabinet positions which was a symptom of the awful gombeenarchy that has gone before.

I have to say only for the weird choice of Howlin over Burton for a finance role and a full cabinet ministry for Arts/Gaeltacht/Heritage, today's proceedings were hopeful to say the least.