THE LABOUR Party is expected to get the attorney general position in the new cabinet to be announced by incoming taoiseach Enda Kenny tomorrow.
With Fine Gael taking 10 government departments and Labour five, the allocation of the attorney general post to Labour will mean that the party will have six representatives sitting at the cabinet table.
One of the likely candidates for the attorney general’s post is the Labour Party financial secretary Máire Whelan SC. She is an expert in banking and European law and has recently written a legal textbook on the National Asset Management Agency (Nama).
Leading family lawyer Gerry Durcan was another Labour lawyer being mentioned in speculation last night. Senior counsel Brian Murray was also being mentioned by some sources.
The attorney general is legal adviser to the government and attends cabinet meetings but does not have a vote at the cabinet table.
Fine Gael is likely to be allotted the environment and enterprise and employment ministries, with Labour filling education and social protection.
It is expected that Fine Gael will get 10 of the 15 senior ministries, with Labour getting five plus a new “super-junior” minister of state who can also attend cabinet meetings.
It is expected the “super-junior” will be a position in the economic area.
Phil Hogan, one of Fine Gael’s three negotiators, is regarded as the favourite to become minister for the environment and the party’s enterprise spokesman Richard Bruton is being tipped to get the enterprise position.
However, both parties emphasised yesterday that no final decision had been made on the allotment of cabinet positions and that would only be finalised after both leaders spoke today and possibly tomorrow morning before the 31st Dáil convenes for the first time.
Both leaders spoke briefly yesterday by telephone but did not meet as Mr Kenny was in Mayo for most of the day and did not return to Dublin until late yesterday evening.
With the finance portfolio being split into two component parts, it is expected that Fine Gael’s Michael Noonan will become minister for finance and Labour’s Joan Burton will become the minister with responsibility for expenditure and public sector reform.
Another Labour negotiator, Pat Rabbitte, has also been mentioned as a possibility for the public sector reform role, although his name has also been linked with justice, as has that of Fine Gael negotiator Alan Shatter.
The final member of the Labour negotiating team, Brendan Howlin, has been suggested as minister for social protection, with party colleague Ruairí Quinn being mentioned as a possible minister for education.
Fine Gael deputy leader James Reilly is likely to become the minister for health.
However, sources from both Fine Gael and Labour could not confirm to which party this key portfolio had been allotted.
Another senior Fine Gael figure, Seán Barrett, is expected to become the new ceann comhairle.
Mr Shatter, in a series of interviews on RTÉ yesterday, suggested that the figure required for immediate recapitalisation of the banks may be far greater than the €10 billion which the outgoing Government declined from injecting before the election.
He said the new government would not to be in a position to decide on the necessary action until the comprehensive stress tests had been completed at the end of this month.
“There is a real concern that there will be a further hole in the banks that exceeds the sums that the previous government has put on the record.
“We want to make sure that it’s sustainable,” he said.
In a later interview, he said the concerns related to the residential home mortgage area.
“Neither Fine Gael nor Labour is convinced that there has been proper transparency or full disclosure from the banks about the extent to which loans are impaired in this area,” he said.