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Irish Mirror

National

Louise Burne

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar says new Government is facing "political and social crisises"

Leo Varadkar Brendan Griffin Fine Gael Hildegarde Naughton

The Taoiseach told the Dáíl that the new Government is facing "political and social crisises".

"We are living in an age of emergencies," Mr Varadkar said.

"Climate, the war in Ukraine, housing, the cost of living, child poverty. There are also threats to the economy and employment and to peace and partnership on our island.

"We are facing deep political and social crises, and they affect every community in our country.

"We need to treat each of them as a national emergency and deploy the full resources of the State, the full machinery of Government, to make an immediate and real difference and this is what we are committed to as a Government.

"When the life of our nation was in peril we joined together to protect each other. Today the hopes and dreams of our nation depend on us fixing the problems we face. To do so, we need to go all out. To be radical or redundant.

"We must continue to act as a Government decisively with both eyes focused on improving the lives of our citizens and serving the interests of our communities."

The Irish Mirror understands that there is significant anger in Fine Gael about the appointment of Ms Naughton to the role of Government Chief Whip.

It was widely expected that Brendan Griffin would receive the role after acting as Fine Gael whip.

One Fine Gael politician said: "Brendan has been let down. He took the role [as party whip] when people refused it and now he gets dropped when he should have been rewarded."

One Fine Gael source said that Mr Varadkar will loose support within the party for not rewarding Mr Griffin.

Another TD said: "People are fuming. Brendan has done a brilliant job."

One Fine Gael source also said that Josepha Madigan is now expected to remain on as a Minister of State when junior ministers are appointed next week. They said that this is due to cause more trouble within the party.

Here is the full list of new Ministers:

Taoiseach: Leo Varadkar
Tánaiste, Departments of Foreign Affairs and Defence: Micheál Martin.
Department of Environment, Climate, Communications and Transport: Eamon Ryan.
Department of Finance: Michael McGrath.
Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform: Paschal Donohoe.
Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Simon Coveney.
Department of Education: Norma Foley.
Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media: Catherine Martin.
Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Darragh O’Brien.
Department of Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Heather Humphreys.
Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Charlie McConalogue.
Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Roderic O’Gorman.
Department of Health: Stephen Donnelly
Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and to the Department of Justice: Simon Harris.
Minister without portfolio: Helen McEntee who it would be anticipated will return as Minister for Justice when she returns from maternity leave.
Attorney General: Rossa Fanning SC for appointment by the President to be the Attorney General.
Hildegarde Naughton was appointed as Minister of State in the Department of the Taoiseach as Government Chief Whip.
Jack Chambers became Minister for International & Road Transport and Logistics at the Department of Transport, as well as Minister for Postal Policy at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications.
Senator Pippa Hackett will continue as Minister for Land Use and BioDiversity at the Department of Agriculture.
The Tánaiste will chair the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Economic Recovery & Investment and may attend meetings of the British-Irish Council.