Seven new Ministers of State were appointed to the expanded junior ministerial ranks yesterday and two of the outgoing team were dropped after the Taoiseach received the approval of his Cabinet for the changes, writes Stephen Collins, Political Editor
The acting leader of the Green Party, Trevor Sargent, was, as expected, appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, with responsibility for Food and Horticulture.
The other 19 Ministers of State are all from the ranks of Fianna Fáil as the Progressive Democrats, with just two seats in the Dáil, were not offered a position. The party's two outgoing junior ministers lost their seats in the election.
Long-serving junior ministers Noel Treacy and Frank Fahey, both from Co Galway, were dropped to make way for the new arrivals. Both men had first been appointed ministers of state in 1987 and their departure was not a great surprise.
Six Fianna Fáil TDs have been promoted to the junior ministerial ranks, with five of them being appointed Ministers of State for the first time.
The five new Ministers are Pat Carey, who takes over responsibility for the Drugs Strategy and Community Affairs, Billy Kelleher who gets Labour Affairs, John McGuinness at Trade and Commerce, Dr Jimmy Devins who will have responsibility for Disability and Mental Health and Máire Hoctor who has been allocated responsibility for Older People.
One former junior minister who returns to the ranks is the Galway East TD, Micheal Kitt, who was briefly a junior minister in 1991/1992. He has been appointed as Minister of State for Overseas Development.
Mr McGuinness, Dr Devins and Ms Hoctor will not take up their appointments until the amending legislation increasing the number of junior Ministers from 17 to 20 is passed by the Dáil and Seanad before the summer recess.
The new Minister of State for Children, Brendan Smith, has been given a so called "super junior" position and he will attend all Cabinet meetings. Government chief whip Tom Kitt will also attend along with the 15 full Ministers.
The Taoiseach said he had decided to expand the number of junior ministers from 17 to 20 because of the increasing pressures they faced, among them the increasing complexity of policy issues and the need for accountability to Oireachtas committees.
"Of the 20 Ministers of State, eight are newly appointed, including two who previously served for less than six months, while a further five have total service of little more than two and a half years. The team is therefore a good mixture of solid experience and fresh faces," he said.
Mr Ahern's desire to bring in new Ministers was eased by the fact that the two outgoing Progressive Democrats junior ministers, Tom Parlon and Tim O'Malley, lost their seats. The increase in the number of junior Ministers also enabled him to promote newer TDs like Dr Devins and Ms Hoctor, who were first elected to the Dáil in 2002.