Views from the Dáil of the new Cabinet
Taoiseach
The new Cabinet followed Mr Ahern into the packed Dáil Chamber yesterday afternoon, with the incoming Government chief whip, Mr Tom Kitt - one of the few surprise announcements - bringing up the rear. As they walked to their seats, the Opposition chanted: "All the same" and "No change".
When Mr Ahern announced the elevation of Minister of State Mr Willie O'Dea to be the new Minister for Defence, Fine Gael TD Mr Michael Ring quipped that "the country's safe".
Mr Ahern retorted, smiling, that "even the Opposition agrees" with the appointments. Mr Ahern told the Dáil he had accepted the resignation of the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, and the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh - both of whom were sitting in the Chamber - and also of the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, who was in the Chamber earlier but did not appear during the announcement of the Cabinet.
Mr Ahern also announced the resignation of Mr Jim McDaid, Minister of State for Transport, who was not in the Chamber.
The Taoiseach paid tribute to the former Ministers.
He reiterated the Government's key objectives of managing the economy for sustainable growth and employment, and improving competitiveness.
People understood that "we must firstly ensure our economic success in order to ensure that we succeed in implementing our social objectives".
"That requires energetic and professional leadership, the kind that results from the right combination of experience and innovation."
He said he was renewing the ministerial team with "energetic and ambitious colleagues, who are also experienced and professional politicians".
"By reassigning departmental responsibilities, I am taking the opportunity to bring a fresh perspective and renewed commitment to achieving our objectives across much of the machinery of Government."
He said that those elected to high office had to work hard, but they also required the capacity to deal effectively with problems and to deliver results that make a difference. "My colleagues know that their nomination by me is based on my expectation that they will meet the test."
Enda Kenny
The Taoiseach's new Cabinet is a "political mouse", the Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, claimed in the Dáil, writes Marie O'Halloran. Speaking after Mr Ahern announced his new line-up, Mr Kenny said he wanted to "nail the lie that this is a new Government".
Despite the "pomp and circumstance" of the day, "any change is just cosmetic, a cheap veneer. The Taoiseach is reshuffling his deck in the hope that he can play a better hand at the next election."
In the Government's "pursuit of power, the more things change the more they remain the same".
Hitting out at the coalition, the Mayo TD said the Taoiseach "says it is all change and the Tánaiste says it is the old way or no way. What are the Government's values? Who or what are we to believe? The answer is neither of them and nothing."
Saying Mr Ahern had "laboured for three months to produce this political mouse", Mr Kenny said it was not a new Government because "every new Minister appointed or reappointed today accepted and supported the decisions, actions and inaction of their predecessors over the past seven years".
They "stood over the obscene and bullheaded wastage of €50 million on electronic voting, while at the same time a man in Tallaght told the newspapers that given the state of the A&E department, he would rather not have a pulse the next time he is there."
At the same time he congratulated the new office-holders on their "big day", and said it was also a big day for their families who were proud of them, and "of the honour the Taoiseach has bestowed upon them". But with that honour and privilege "comes responsibility".
He also commiserated with those "dropped from Cabinet or redeployed or forced to leave". This was never easy, "especially when one's deployment may be down to nothing more than naked political expediency or the sudden desperate requirement for lambs".
Referring to the move by former Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, to Brussels, Mr Kenny said "sacrifice is part of national politics". But "when it is done to use, when we are the sacrificed, it becomes something else entirely as the former Minister, Commissioner McCreevy, has plenty of time to contemplate from the splendid remove of the Berlaymont building in Brussels".
When he referred to some TDs who did not get "the call" even though they had "new suits hanging in their closets", the new Minister for Finance, Mr Cowen,said thatMr Kenny would have to buy "40 new suits" - a reference to the number of seats they would need to get into government.
The Minister for Arts, Mr O'Donoghue, quipped that those suits "will be fairly mothballed".
The Fine Gael leader said the "good news is that we will not need to believe daylight from this Government because the people already know that a better alternative is emerging comprising democratic parties on this side of the House which are committed to making the tough decisions, and doing what they say they will do".
Pat Rabbitte
The Labour leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, said he could not see any change in the ministerial line-up, writes Michael O'Regan.
"I cannot see where the new direction will come from. I suppose the Ministers of State were announced to take the bare look off the lack of change."
Congratulating those who had been promoted, Mr Rabbitte said he had some regrets, in the interests of capable Cabinet discharging the responsibilities of Government, that the Minister of State, Mr Brian Lenihan, was not in the Cabinet.
"There you are. It is very minimalist old wine, and rancid old wine at that, in the Cabinet. I find it remarkable that the Taoiseach is arguing for a new direction and new policies when the people he has promoted, including Ministers of State Deputy Roche, Deputy O'Dea and Deputy Hanafin, were the most loquacious advocates of the old policies. How does that mark out a change of direction?
"No one defended the citadel in the way these three deputies did. I see no change of policy there, nor do I see any explanation for shuffling virtually every minister in the Cabinet."
Mr Rabbitte noted that the Taoiseach had said that whoever would be elected to the new Cabinet would not be in any comfort zone. "It scarcely appears to me to be a vote of confidence that virtually all of them have been transferred out of what they were doing. This in a circumstance where we have spent since June 11th in a state of paralysis.
"Ministers could not do anything; not that they did a great deal before June 11th. They would not do anything because they did not know whether they would be there."
Mr Rabbitte predicted that nothing would be done between now and Christmas. "When I look at the old, tired, failed faces, the only thing for which I am grateful is that Deputy (Michael) Woods was not brought back. Other than that, it is more or less as you as you were."
Offering the Tánaiste congratulations, Mr Rabbitte said it was a brave move on her part to take on the Department of Health, given "seven-and-a-half years of failed reform". He did not know how to read it.
"I think all the Fianna Fáil backbenchers will join with this side of the House and say: 'It is the PDs. Sure, we would have a great health service only for the PDs are in charge'."
Tánaiste
The Tánaiste and new Minister for Health, Ms Harney, pledged "common sense" reform of the health services, writes Michael O'Regan.
"It will not be driven by any ideology. It will be driven with one motive, and one motive only in mind: what is in the interest of the patients and the people of this country?"
She would say to commentators and members of the House who would say there was another agenda to wait and see.
Responding to Mr Rabbitte's query as to why she chose Health, Ms Harney said: "I do not take my politics from any ideology. I'm not an ideologue. My views come from my own personal experience. My background is no different than Deputy Rabbitte's, I believe. I come from the same kind of background. He and I were fortunate that we got the benefit of a good education, something my parents did not have.
"I value that, and I appreciate that. The one thing I want for the country is to have a health service that is acceptable to every citizen regardless of their wealth.
"There are many in this society who have private health insurance, or are wealthy, and they always get the medical attention that they need.
"But there are too many others in our society, in 2004, who do not have that opportunity.
"Working with the Government, as part of a team, I want to play my part in dealing with what the Taoiseach described as the number one priority of the Government. We have the analysis, we have the blueprint, and huge effort went into preparing that. The challenge now is to implement the reforms."
Ms Harney said a successful economy and economic reform were not incompatible with public service reform. "They are not pulling in the opposite direction. They have to be integrated in one vision of a vibrant and a sustainable economy. You cannot have one without the other."
She said that listening to the debate she wondered if she were living in the Ireland of the 1980s, when there was mass emigration and employment. Seven years ago, she added, 11 per cent of the workforce was unemployed, while it was four per cent today. "Nobody can take away from the track record of this Government when it comes to the economy."
Minister for Finance
The new Minister for Finance, Mr Cowen, staunchly defended the policies of his predecessor, and promised to continue the Government's economic model, writes Marie O'Halloran.
In his first speech to the Dáil in his new Finance portfolio, Mr Cowen also launched a broadside at the Opposition whom he said seemed to think that they would get into government on the basis of saying that "nothing is happening", or by "saying that we can increase the tax take and get more jobs".
As the debate ended on the nomination of the new Cabinet, Mr Cowen told the House that the facts were against the Opposition, and the Government would continue to be successful because "we are committed to a model that works not only for Ireland but is also the best in the EU".
In a sharp criticism of the Opposition, he said "the idiocy of what passes for economic debate in this House is the idea that those who want to tax more are more committed to public services than those who want to ensure that we have taxation rates which are competitive and consistent with an enterprise economy, and which brought about 420,000 jobs since this so-called incompetent Government took office".
He said "the economic model we should be discussing is whether we want to go back to a failed policy of high taxation rates, high corporation tax rates and less jobs, or we accept the current taxation system".
The new government was voted in by 80 to 55.
Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin
The reshuffle was a "mere shuffling of a deck of cards", Mr Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (SF, Cavan-Monaghan) claimed, writes Michael O'Regan.
"This is still the same Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats Government as has been here for the past seven years since 1997. There is no substantive change."
He said that based on the Taoiseach's own advice, they needed a new government, new Ministers and, perhaps, a new Taoiseach. "Above all, we need a new direction on the part of government driven by a vision of equality.
"Therefore, I take this opportunity to urge the Taoiseach to facilitate and accommodate the most important change of all, namely, to take the decision to hold a general election that will allow the people to make the determination, choice and judgement as to who will best occupy these roles and positions. He will be delighted to know that we in Sinn Féin are ready for it any time. Why wait until 2007?"
He said that it had been the longest drawn-out reshuffle in history. It was a useful tool and provided the Taoiseach the opportunity over the long period of the summer to divert attention from the failed policies of his administration and to have the media focus instead on the endless speculation about who would be in or out. The reshuffle was about a change of image. "I do not believe it is about a change of substance, but hope I can be proved wrong, and that the Government will deliver on some of its broken promises."
Trevor Sargent
The Green Party leader, Mr Trevor Sargent, said the changes left him "quite cold", writes Michael O'Regan. The message from the local and European elections was clear, and there was an opportunity to make changes not only in personnel but also in regard to the Departments.
"For example, there is not a department of consumer affairs and a number of Departments are in need of reform as well as a change in personnel. Instead, a Politburo-type approach has been adopted whereby seniority is the determining factor in appointments. Nobody elected for the first time in 2002 has been promoted.
"The Taoiseach is going through the motions by creaming off those who have been in office for a while for retirement, and bringing on another batch of deputies in a mechanical and uninspiring manner.
"This is a missed opportunity, and it is sad. The spin on the nominations is that they represent a fundamental change, which is incredible, and I hope that will not be taken at face value because a closer examination indicates there has not been a change. It does not give hope to those who were crying out for change.
"Many of my constituents work for Aer Lingus, and they will not be comforted nor will they find cause for hope in the appointment of Deputy Cullen as Minister for Transport.
"The people of Clare and surrounding counties will not take comfort in the context of Ennis General Hospital from the appointment of the Tánaiste to the Department of Health.
"Many people in the agricultural sector who are attending the ploughing championships in Co Carlow will also not take much comfort from the appointment of Deputy Coughlan as Minister for Agriculture and Food. However, the Government faces a challenge and these changes will not quell the unrest.
"Many people are unhappy and, prior to the summer recess, it was clear that issues needed to be addressed radically. I warned that the cost of fuel would increase over the summer. The price of oil is approximately $50 a barrel.
However, there are people who are prepared to address this issue by producing biofuels but they are being thwarted at every hand's turn. I ask the Government to examine a number of Green Party policies that provide solutions. However, there is a lack of joined up thinking at Government level to address what needs to be done." The new Cabinet was voted in by 80 to 55.