Phil Hogan nominated as Ireland’s European commissioner

Enda Kenny reshuffles his cabinet after agreement between coalition partners on revised government policy.

Enda Kenny, Ireland’s prime minister, today (11 July) reshuffled his cabinet and revealed his nominee for the next European Commission – Phil Hogan, the environment minister.

Kenny, leader of the centre-right Fine Gael party, and Joan Burton, the new leader of the centre-left Labour Party, the junior coalition partner, began talks on the reshuffle on Friday (4 July).

Leo Varadkar (Fine Gael), the transport minister, will replace James Reilly (Fine Gael) as health minister, with Reilly taking on a new role as minister for children and youth affairs. Charlie Flanagan (Fine Gael) is to be minister for foreign affairs, replacing Eamon Gilmore (Labour). The reshuffle was promoted by Gilmore’s resignation as Labour leader in the wake of disappointing European Parliament and local election results. He was replaced as Labour leader by Burton on 4 July.

Alan Kelly, Labour’s new deputy leader, replaces Hogan at the environment ministry.

Two other Labour ministers have left the cabinet: Ruairi Quinn is replaced by Jan O’Sullivan (Labour) as education minister, and Pat Rabbitte is replaced by Alex White (Labour), who becomes minister for communications, energy and natural resources.

Paschal Donohoe (Fine Gael) will deal with transport, tourism and sport. Heather Humphreys (Fine Gael) is the new minister for arts, and heritage.

The new cabinet will meet President Michael Higgins later today to be officially sworn in. After their first meeting, they will seek approval of the parliament.

Kenny said that the new-look government will prioritise job creation and competitiveness. The Irish economy has enjoyed a period of recovery since the end of its international bail-out programme and Kenny said that the coalition partners now want to make sure “recovery is felt and deeply in every city, town and village across this country”.

“Last year alone saw 61,000 new jobs. That’s not only over 1,000 jobs a week for men and women all over the country, it’s the highest employment-growth rate in Europe,” Kenny said.

Burton added that the Irish government will seek European collaboration for “this ambitious agenda” to make sure that the EU prioritises growth and equality as well. “We will continue to work to build international support to reduce the debt for the Irish people.”

Opposition parties expressed their concern about the revised government policy and the effect of the reshuffle.

Mícheál Martin, leader of the centre-right Fianna Fáil, the country’s largest opposition party, said: “All the evidence is that very little will change because of this reshuffle. It is a bit like cosmetic surgery – nothing major has changed.”

Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Féin, told Kenny: “Instead of reshuffling the jokers in the pack, you should call for a general election. Let the people decide.”

The revised cabinet is to stay in the office until the next national elections, which are not scheduled to take place before April 2016.