TAOISEACH Brian Cowen and Green Party leader John Gormley will have further discussions on a Cabinet reshuffle today, with the junior Coalition party continuing to insist on an extra junior Minister.
Mr Cowen has been under pressure from his TDs in Fianna Fáil not to concede. They claim the reduction in the number of junior Ministers from 20 to 15 last year, which was sought by the Greens, nullified any deal about an extra post.
Mr Cowen and Mr Gormley met on Saturday to discuss all aspects of the reshuffle. They will talk again today ahead of the expected announcement in the Dáil tomorrow.
The Greens are adamant the 2007 commitment by Bertie Ahern to give them an extra junior Minister half way through the life of the Coalition must be honoured.
“What we are saying to Fianna Fáil is: we made a deal; just keep the deal. It’s not complicated,” said a Green Party source yesterday. “We did not ask Bertie Ahern to increase the number of junior Ministers to 20 so the deal stands, irrespective of the rise and fall in ministerial numbers.”
A senior Fianna Fáil figure confirmed the Greens were sticking to their demand for another junior ministerial post. “It’s a problem, but we don’t seem to have much of a choice except to grin and bear it.”
The indications are that the Greens have abandoned a plan to rotate Mr Gormley’s Cabinet post at the half-way point of the Government, with Ciaran Cuffe taking over as Minister for the Environment.
The party is now hoping Mr Cuffe and the party’s deputy leader, Mary White, will be appointed as junior Ministers this week, with Mr Gormley and Eamon Ryan remaining in the Cabinet.
The talks between the Taoiseach and Mr Gormley have also involved the scope of the reconfiguration of Government departments. It is expected that the current Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment headed by Tánaiste Mary Coughlan will be broken up, with major elements of it forming part of two important new ministries.
A new Department of Economic Development and Enterprise is one option being considered by the Taoiseach. He is also believed to be considering a major revamp of the Department of Social and Family Affairs, with a new department having responsibility for training and benefits, including the oversight of Fás.