New Cabinet voted in by comfortable margin of 59 to 36

The new Cabinet announced by Taoiseach Enda Kenny has been voted into office by 59 votes to 36 after a marathon day in Leinster House.

Thirteen members of the Opposition were absent for the vote, completed shortly before 11 pm on Friday and after a debate in which a number of the new Cabinet members addressed the House.

Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar told the Dáil there could be an opportunity for Fine Gael to have a third successive term in office.

The first Fine Gael Minister in the portfolio for 30 years, he said he believed “we now have a very fragmented society”, much more fragmented than he had ever seen.

That was a reflection of the recession. He said he had believed that a recovery would lift all boats. “But I was wrong.”

He said this would be a different government. The election was “no coronation” but it was an opportunity to learn from their mistakes, to start uniting a fragmented society and that it was “not just about GDP, not just about getting the bond yield down”.

The Minister added: “That might be the secret ingredient that allows us to have a third term in office.”

Thanking Taoiseach Enda Kenny for nominating him to the portfolio, he outlined some of his proposals for his term in office, including the development of a “whole new social insurance system” and the return of dental benefits.

He also said he would like to restore some of the cutbacks in social welfare. He said he had a particular interest in the rural social schemes and he looked forward to visiting rural areas and seeing these schemes in operation.

And he wanted to develop a universal pension scheme. There are some people in this State who have no pension at all other than the State pension. “It’s a very difficult, tricky area.” Things could not be done in difficult years but perhaps they could be done in the years ahead.

He said he hoped that some of the legislation he had initiated in the Department of Health legislation that should have the support of all sides in the House would get through the Dáil and Seanad including legislation on alcohol.

He paid tribute to outgoing minister Joan Burton whom he described as a “real reforming and successful” minister who had transformed the department from one that made payments to one of activation. And he hoped to continue that work.

Collective tasks

Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Katherine Zappone said one of the Dáil’s collective tasks was “to end child poverty”.

In an impassioned maiden speech as a Cabinet Minister, she said this was a critical task for everyone to engage in and she knew a little about attempting to end child poverty.

She said her involvement in her constituency included the establishment of a creche 30 years ago with her spouse, in Jobstown.

She said she had an “ethical obligation” in her role and she quoted Sinn Féin TD Martin Kenny who said Ireland should be a place “where our children can raise our grandchildren” and that there should be a “new direction for the way of conducting our country’s business”.

She also quoted the Taoiseach’s comments about caring for people’s “psychological and emotional wellbeing”.

She acknowledged of the government and its programme that “it’s not perfect. It was way too slow,” in formation and she said “we must get better at this”.

More trust needed to be built and that all the Opposition was required to stop the Government when it was not doing all it should to treat all of the children of the nation equally.

She said: “I define power as the ability to get things done” and she added that she had decided she would try to get things done “over here rather than over there” she said of the opposition benches.

Independent TD Michael Harty, who voted for Enda Kenny as Taoiseach said the minority government would be a new style of administration and might become the norm for the future.

And that they needed “compromise communication and accommodation”.

Sinn Féin TD John Brady appealed to new Minister for Housing Simon Coveney to intervene in the case of two homeless men taking shelter in Wicklow County Council offices.

He said they had no shelter and had been forced to take shelter in the offices for the past two nights. The Wicklow TD said the local authority had now locked them in with no heating and no facilities.

He asked that Mr Coveney’s first job should be to “pick up the phone” to deal with this crisis.

People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith said there had been much talk about new politics.

And new politics were also happening outside this chamber, said as she welcomed the election in the North of Gerry Carroll and the imminent election of Eamonn McCann as People Before Profit Northern Ireland Assembly members.

The party now becomes the second party with elected representatives in the parliaments on both sides of the border.

She said their election represented a trend across the world of the rise of those against austerity.