Kenny snub to neighbours leaves Galway in the cold

World of Politics with Harry McGee

I was on leave last week and stayed (mostly) away from current affairs. Like the Garda holding the speed radar in the Kit Kat ad, the moment I turned my back, all hell broke less.

A slight exaggeration, but the reshuffle of the junior Cabinet did turn out to be almost as eventful as the one involving senior Ministers the week before.

It was always known that when the axe fell in Fine Gael, most of the action would be taking place in the junior ranks.

Enda Kenny is a minimalist by nature. A lot of his thinking was informed by a disastrous reshuffle in the 1980s in which Garret FitzGerald tried to chop and change but which backfired spectacularly. The 2010 leadership battle showed that Kenny can be ruthless but against that he is incredibly loyal to those who support him. So there was a genuine belief right up to the end that Jimmy Deenihan might be saved.

That loyalty did not really extend to the junior ranks. He had some room for manoeuvre. Paschal Donohoe had been promoted; Brian Hayes had moved on to Europe. There were another two who could not be moved. Paul Kehoe is one of his most loyal lieutenants and would not be sacked. However, it was never likely he would be promoted so he stayed put as chief whip.

The other certainty was Michael Ring. If Kenny sacked Ring as a junior minister, there would have been all-out war in Mayo and that was the last thing a Taoiseach defending in a constituency with a reduced seat count needed.

But the others were tumbled. Fergus O’Dowd, John Perry, Ciaran Cannon and Dinny McGinley were all sacked, all of them replaced by Fine Gaelers of the younger generation –  Simon Harris, Dara Murphy, Damien English and Joe McHugh.

With such a large parliamentary party, with such a geographical divide and with such a limited number of seats it was always going to be hard for Kenny to satisfy his own TDs.

But that said, the new selections were attacked under three counts: the lack of women, the poor geographical spread; and the lack of expertise of one of the appointments.

Let’s deal with them in turn. Back in 2011, there was justified criticism of the disproportionately large male representation in Cabinet. Some of this was directed at Labour and then leader Eamon Gilmore’s decision to promote only one woman.

Well that woman is now leader and it was always a certainty that Joan Burton would correct that balance by promoting a female colleague to senior Ministry. And that choice was Jan O’Sullivan who is very efficient and relatively effective but who won’t be the most dynamic Minister of Education in the history of the State.

On the Fine Gael side, Heather Humphreys was a surprise choice. She has been a solid backbencher but there is absolutely no evidence she has a feel or knowledge of Arts, Hertitage and the Gaeltacht.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.