THE Taoiseach announced that he intended making substantial changes in Departmental responsibilities and organisation to reflect or emphasise the Coalition's new priorities.

The full details of these would be worked out over the coming days, said Mr Ahern, and in the meantime he had allocated the members of the Government to Departments on the basis of existing divisions of responsibility.

He then announced the following appointments: Tanaiste and Enterprise and Employment, Ms Mary Harney; Marine, Dr Michael Woods; Foreign Affairs, Mr Ray Burke; Transport, Energy and Communications, Ms Mary O'Rourke; Defence, Mr David Andrews; Agriculture, Food and Forestry, Mr Joe Walsh; Finance, Mr Charlie McCreevy; Health, Mr Brian Cowen; Environment, Mr Noel Dempsey; Social Welfare Mr Dermot Ahern; Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Ms Sile de Valera; Justice and Equality and Law Reform, Mr John O'Donoghue; Tourism and Trade, Dr Jim McDaid; and Education, Mr Micheal Martin.

Mr Ahern said that Mr Seamus Brennan (FF, Dublin South) would be Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, with special responsibility as Government Chief Whip, and also Minister of State for Defence. Mr Bobby Molloy (PD, Galway West) would be Minister of State to the Government and Minister of State for the Environment and would attend Cabinet meetings. Mr David Byrne SC would be Attorney General.

The Taoiseach said that Trade would be returned to the Department of Enterprise and Employment, with which it more logically fitted.

He would broaden the title and the remit of Health, so that it became the Department of Health and Children. The full implementation of childcare legislation was a very important priority, and this would be reflected in the description of the Department's responsibilities.

The Minister for Social Welfare would become the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, the broader remit reflecting the fact that social inclusion meant more than just income support, vital though that might be.

The Department of Transport, Energy and Communications had become de facto responsible for most of the larger commercial semistate companies and for much of the State's direct involvement in the economy. He proposed to recognise that explicitly by establishing it as the Department of Public Enterprise.

Mr Ahern said he would rename the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht as the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands. Within the Department, the Gaeltacht and the islands would preserve their separate identity, and a Minister of State would have responsibility for them.

The Department of Equality and Law Reform had responsibility for the passage of the divorce referendum and accompanying legislation, and also for equality legislation that would have to be revisited following judgments in the Supreme Court. While paying tribute to the former Minister, Mr Mervyn Taylor, his view was that law reform was a natural complement to law enforcement and belonged with the Department of Justice.

Mr Ahern said that he would continue to combine agriculture and food, but responsibility for a statutory independent science based food safety and quality authority would be placed under the Department of Health and Children.

The Department of the Environment would add rural development to its name, and there would be a new Department of Tourism, Sport and Recreation. The Minister for Defence would, in addition to his normal responsibilities, have a responsibility under the direction of the Minister for Foreign Affairs for European Affairs.

Modern ministers for foreign affairs had a heavy schedule of meetings relating to the North, Europe and internationally, and the Minister needed to be able to share the burden of attending numerous important meetings with out loss of function or overall policy direction with another colleague of Cabinet rank. He also envisaged he would assist the Minister for Foreign Affairs in representing the Government at the Northern talks.

The new Government was taking over a country experiencing unprecedented growth and it was faced with important choices, the leader of Fine Gael, Mr John Bruton, said.

Our growth was not even being equalled by other nations and there were now more people at work than there were 2 1/2 years ago.

The choices to be made would be difficult because money was available and it would be a greater moral test than if we were living in straitened times, when there was no choice to be made. He hoped the Government would look at human values in the way it spent money.

He did not agree with reducing tax rates. That would help the better off rather than those who were less well off. "That is a fundamental mistake at the start. It will make this a divided society.

There were many things he hoped the Government would continue with. He had no doubt that it would continue the commitment to social partnership. That was very important and it was a good thing.

There would also be challenges from outside the State. Markets were now open for imports and goods from all over the world. It was not possible to protect ourselves from that. There would have to be constant improvements on our part, Mr Bruton said.

The Labour leader, Mr Dick Spring, said the Cabinet lacked any deep thought or imagination, and was made up of people who, in the main, had given many hostages to fortune in their opposition portfolios.

He challenged Mr Ahern to explain what the programme for government meant in its "seemingly innocuous commitment" to the "utilisation of the tax system, including capital taxation, to encourage entrepreneurship".

Mr Pat Rabbitte (DL, Dublin South West) congratulated the Taoiseach and his Ministers, but warned that they were members of a "fairly rickety Coalition".

The Dail last night approved the ministerial appointments by 84 votes to 76. The Government was supported by the Independents, Mr Jackie Healy Rae (Kerry South), Mr Harry Blaney (Donegal North East) and Ms Mildred Fox (Wicklow). Mr Tony Gregory (Independent, Dublin Central) and Mr Joe Higgins (Socialist Party, Dublin West) voted against the Government. Mr Caoimhghin O Caolain (SF, CavanMonaghan) abstained.