Westmeath duo miss out on Cabinet posts

There is no Westmeath representation in the Cabinet announced this evening in Dáil Éireann by new Taoiseach Micheál Martin.

The lack of a representative from the county is not surprising as both Fine Gael’s Peter Burke and Fianna Fail’s Robert Troy in recent days had been mentioned as more likely to receive a junior ministry than a Cabinet post.

Nonetheless, the lack of a Westmeath representative in the Cabinet is set to extend Westmeath stint without a senior minister to 20 years.

Labour’s Willie Penrose had served as a Minister of State for Housing and Planning from March to November 2011 in the Fine Gael/Labour coalition – this post was a ‘super junior’ role which allowed him to sit at Cabinet, albeit not with a senior ministry.

Prior to that we have to go back to 2002 for Westmeath’s last senior ministry when Mary O’Rourke finished her term as Minister for Public Enterprise.

In the outgoing government, Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran served as Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works and Flood Relief.

The closest ministers to Westmeath in the new Cabinet announced this evening are Barry Cowen, the new Minister for Agriculture and Marine, from Tullamore and Helen McEntee, the new Minister for Justice, from Navan.

Burke and Troy remain in contention for junior ministries. It's expected the new Government will appoint some 20 junior ministers in the coming days.

Fianna Fail and Fine Gael will have eight junior ministers each and the Greens four. One junior minister from each party will be permitted to sit at Cabinet as a 'super junior'

The full Cabinet is as follows:

Tánaiste and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar.

Department of Climate Action, Communications Networks and Transport, Eamon Ryan.

Department of Finance, Paschal Donohoe.

Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath.

Department of Foreign Affairs and Defence, Simon Coveney.

Department of Education, Norma Foley.

Department of Children, Disability, Equality and Integration, Roderic O’Gorman.

Department of Agriculture and the Marine, Barry Cowen.

Department of Justice, Helen McEntee.

Department of Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands, Heather Humphreys.

Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien.

Department of Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht, Catherine Martin.

Department of Health, Stephen Donnelly.

Department of Higher Education, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris.

To the Office of the Attorney General, Paul Gallagher.

Deputy Dara Calleary as Minister of State in the Department of the Taoiseach as Government Chief Whip.