Tanaiste says she would prefer to move to another department in reshuffle next year
Liam Reid
The Tánaiste, Ms Harney, has said she would prefer a different cabinet portfolio to Enterprise and Employment next year.
The Progressive Democrats leader said she expected a reshuffle after the June local elections and that she agreed with the Taoiseach that there should be a reshuffle then. "I've no doubt there will be a reshuffle, perhaps at the local \ European elections. That would be a time when I would certainly prefer perhaps to move to another department in Government," she said in an interview on RTÉ television last night.
She was speaking on A Week in Politics, following 10 years as leader of the Progressive Democrats. She said she had decided to stay in enterprise and employment in order to implement reforms in the insurance industry and in switching the focus of industrial policy towards research and development, which she believed she will have achieved by the middle of next year.
"I can see the headlines already, but if you're asking me do I want to spend [the remaining lifetime of the Government at the Department of Enterprise and Employment\] then I'm not so sure that's the right choice for me or for the Government."
She also reiterated her support for the proposed reforms of the health service and said that it would be the most important factor in determining the next general election result.
"The Government will be judged, in my opinion, at the next general election on our capacity and the stomach we have to implement that reform and I believe the drive is there to do it around the cabinet table."
She also rejected suggestions that the PDs had failed in the party's role as a watchdog over the decision by Government colleagues to fund the 15 million agricultural and equestrian event centre at Punchestown without a full independent evaluation.
While she said that the "we have to learn lessons" from the issue regarding the evaluation of projects, it was just one €15 million project out of an annual 40 billion Government expenditure. "Let's not exaggerate it," she said, stating her belief that the PDs were providing voters with "good value for money".
Commenting on recent social welfare cuts, Ms Harney said the party's policy on social welfare reforms was not ideologically driven and it had a strong social justice ethic.