Communications: The new Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Dempsey, is stepping into arguably the most diverse Government department - one with many awkward problems waiting to be tackled.
He will be faced with the continuing financial problems at An Post. The company is on the road to recovery, according to management, but so far has failed to deliver on the promise to radically reduce staff numbers.
There are also looming financial and industrial relations problems at ESB. The company's workers are looking for lump-sum pay increases and a larger equity stake in the company. This second demand was not met by Mr Dempsey's predecessor, Mr Ahern, but the issue has not gone away. Mr Dempsey will be eager to ensure the lights do not go out next year because of an ESB dispute. The last minister set his face against any sale of ESB and one suspects Mr Dempsey will maintain this policy.
Another long running dispute in the Department is the failure to completely separate the national grid company out from ESB. This was demanded by an EU directive several years ago, but setting up this new grid company, ESB National Grid has not proven possible to date.
The Minister is also likely to find dealing with RTÉ challenging. The company will be seeking a licence fee increase before the end of the year and this could prove controversial.