The Taoiseach has talked about reforming public services, but he has baulked at the first opportunity by not cutting the number of junior ministers, writes MARK HENNESSY.
RESHUFFLES FOR any taoiseach are difficult times: the demand from, and ambition of politicians exceeds supply, as Taoiseach Brian Cowen knows only too well after publishing his list of Ministers of State yesterday. Within minutes last week, Cowen spoke about the need to change the role of his juniors to ensure "a more integrated approach": "joined-up Government" in the words of New Labour in the UK a decade ago.
Typically, many Ministers of State have found themselves spread between several Government departments, at home in none, with few powers directly under their control away from the grasp of senior Ministers.
Although the full list of delegated powers to be enjoyed by his second string is not yet published, it is difficult, at first glance, to see how Cowen's selections differ radically from previous administrations.
Left with two vacancies by last week's Cabinet selections, the Taoiseach opted to fire three long-serving juniors: Cork East's Michael Ahern; Wexford's John Browne and Donegal North East's Pat "the Cope" Gallagher.
However, he did not act against Sligo's Jimmy Devins, who has not toed the Government's line on future cancer-care services, but he did move him out of Health and Children into Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
So far, Cowen has driven home the message that discipline and loyalty will be the watchwords of his tenure, so Devins can regard himself as fortunate not to have faced the axe.
However, he will be under little doubt now but that he will have to support the Government's "centre of excellence" plans in future - firstly when Fine Gael moves a Dáil motion next week on the issue.
Meath's Mary Wallace, who sulked after she was removed from Minister of State rank before, and who has done little enough since she was regraded by Bertie Ahern, has also survived, to the private irritation of some of her colleagues.
In all, the speculation among Fianna Fáil TDs was broadly accurate, although neither Donegal North East's Niall Blaney, nor Limerick West's John Cregan, a close friend of Cowen, made the cut.
Cregan's chances disappeared, perhaps, because of Cowen's decision to promote Limerick East TD Peter Power to the prize post of Minister of State for Overseas Development Aid in Foreign Affairs.
The decision means that Michael Kitt, a man of great shyness, had to depart Iveagh House, although he can hardly have too many complaints since the job requires a publicity-hungry occupant and Kitt is anything but.
Nevertheless, Kitt remains a Junior Minister, moving to the Department of the Environment. Though never on the cards, the loss of two Kitts in the space of a week would have been too much for Cowen to consider, even if he had been of a mind.
Given that Ireland is now spending €1 billion a year on foreign aid, Power will be tasked to bring the job profile, both internationally and at home, to overcome the doubts of those who question the spending of such sums.
If John Cregan is unhappy, however, it can be imagined that his feelings are positively benign compared with the attitude that will be taken by Power's constituency colleague, Cabinet Minister, Willie O'Dea, who has never taken kindly to sharing his light with anyone.
Tipperary South's Martin Mansergh has won the plum of the Ministers of State positions, as he is to be in charge of the Office of Public Works - a post with, for now, the best office in Dublin overlooking St Stephen's Green.
Utterly loyal, Mansergh has benefited, no doubt, from his frequent outings over recent months in defence of Cowen's predecessor Bertie Ahern, even if he did verge on the hysterical on occasions.
A veteran of the corridors of power for two decades, Mansergh will now face the challenge of implementing the Government's much-criticised, and badly delayed, decentralisation programme.
His arrival in the OPW means that Noel Ahern, brother of Bertie, leaves for the Department of Transport, where he will work alongside Minister Noel Dempsey - who was one of the few Ministers up to now without a junior.
Ahern's arrival will ease the workload on Dempsey, who has had to appear in the Dáil chamber more often over the last year than any other Cabinet Minister dealing with the day-to-day drudgery of legislation.
Roscommon-South Leitrim's Michael Finneran, who up to now has often been the bridesmaid and never the bride, finally ascends to Minister of State rank, becoming Minister of State for Housing - one of the other "real" posts in the list.
Interestingly, Finneran's bullish attitude to local pressure about hospital services can be starkly contrasted with Devins, when yesterday he none too politely told them to get lost, making it clear that he got elected without their help.
The decision to remove Michael Ahern as Minister of State for Innovation (replaced by Jimmy Devins) ends the ministerial career of the 59-year-old, and, perhaps, will raise some questions in his constituency about whether he will run again in four years' time.
The same will be pondered about Wexford's John Browne, although in the short term, his demotion will provoke deep unhappiness amongst the party's organisations in the south-east.
Pat "the Cope" Gallagher is another of the older juniors to fall by the wayside, though he and the others will now probably pitch for one of the Oireachtas committee chairmanships left vacant by yesterday's appointments.
The decision to give Dublin Mid-West TD John Curran command of the cross-departmental drugs strategy ministerial role - in place of Pat Carey who has become Government Chief Whip - marks him out for future elevation.
The lack of a junior place for Niall Blaney will disappoint both him and his supporters, since he had seemed confident in recent weeks that a promotion stripe was on the way.
Cowen has done nothing, or found it impossible to do anything, to replenish Fianna Fáil's ministerial ranks on Dublin's northside - a fact that may contribute to the party suffering some grief there in time.
So far, the newly elected Taoiseach has talked a good war about the need for major reforms in the public sector, but he baulked at his first opportunity by failing to cut the numbers of Ministers of State.
However, the Opposition is unlikely to lead the criticism, since Fine Gael and Labour expanded the number from 15 to 17 during the rainbow.
Bertie Ahern simply continued the bad habit by bringing the number to 20.
Mark Hennessy is Political Correspondent