The Government, on the nomination of An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar TD, has formally appointed additional Ministers of State and assigned their responsibilities however Co Clare has again been overlooked.
There had been some speculation that Clare’s four-term TD Joe Carey or Limerick’s Kieran O’Donnell might be promoted to junior minister ranks in the Taoiseach’s reshuffle of portfolios.
It has now been confirmed that Deputy O’Donnell has gotten a nod being appointed Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Local Government and Planning).
The Taoiseach said today: “I wish the newly-appointed Ministers of State well in their portfolios. We have strong talent and ability from across the three Government parties.
“Having emerged from Covid we face major challenges in the years ahead. As I said on Saturday, we are living in an age of emergencies: climate, the war in Ukraine, housing, the cost of living, child poverty. There are also threats to the economy and employment, affecting every community in our country.
“We must treat each challenge as a national emergency and deploy the full resources of the State, the full machinery of Government, to make an immediate and real difference. These Ministers of State will play a vital role in that response, and in delivering the remainder of the Programme for Government.”
Hildegarde Naughton, already appointed to the Department of the Taoiseach as Government Chief Whip, has been assigned additional responsibilities to also be a Minister of State at the Department of Health (Public Health, Well Being and the National Drugs Strategy).
The Government previously appointed Jack Chambers as Minister for International & Road Transport & Logistics at the Department of Transport, as well as Minister for Postal Policy at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, and Senator Pippa Hackett as Minister for Land Use and BioDiversity at the Department of Agriculture.
The other appointments comprise:
Peter Burke T.D. – Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Foreign Affairs (EU Affairs) and the Department of Defence
Patrick O’Donovan T.D. – Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (OPW) and Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (Gaeltacht)
Ossian Smyth T.D. – Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (Public Procurement and eGovernment) and Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (Communications and Circular Economy)
Josepha Madigan T.D. – Department of Education (Special Education and Inclusion)
Martin Heydon T.D. – Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Research and Development, Farm Safety and New Market Development)
Anne Rabbitte T.D. – Department of Health and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (Disability)
Sean Fleming T.D. – Department of Foreign Affairs (International Development and Diaspora)
Joe O’Brien T.D. – Department of Rural and Community Development and Department of Social Protection (Community Development and Charities) and Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (Integration)
Kieran O’Donnell T.D. – Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Local Government and Planning)
Malcolm Noonan T.D. – Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Heritage and Electoral Reform)
Damien English T.D. – Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Employment Affairs and Retail Business) and Department of Social Protection
Mary Butler T.D. – Department of Health (Mental Health and Older People)
Thomas Byrne T.D. – Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (Sport and Physical Education)
Niall Collins T.D. – Department of Further and Higher Education, Research Innovation and Science (Skills and Further Education)
Jennifer Carroll-MacNeill T.D. – Department of Finance (Financial Services, Credit Unions and Insurance)
James Browne T.D. – Department of Justice (Law Reform and Youth Justice)
Dara Calleary T.D. – Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Trade Promotion and Digital Transformation)