Proposed changes in ministerial titles and responsibilities of ministers in brackets.
Bertie Ahern
Taoiseach
Mr Ahern (46) becomes Taoiseach 20 years after being first elected to the Dail for Dublin Finglas in the 1977 general election when Fianna Fail won a 20 seat overall majority under Mr Jack Lynch. He has represented Dublin Central since 1981.
When he was elected party leader in 1994 after the break up of the FF Labour government and the resignation of Mr Albert Reynolds, he had wide ministerial experience.
Before becoming a full time politician, Mr Ahern was an accountant at the Mater Hospital in Dublin.
Dermot Ahern
Minister for Social Welfare
(Social, Community and Family Affairs)
A TD for Louth since 1987 Mr Ahern (42) was minister of state at the Department of the Taoiseach and government chief whip, and minister of state for defence, from November, 1991, to February, 1992. He was assistant government whip from 1988 to 1991, and had the party's whip in opposition.
A solicitor, he has been a member of the British Irish parliamentary body since 1991 and cochairman since 1993.
Mary Harney
Tanaiste, and Minister for
Enterprise and
Employment (and Trade)
Aged 44, Ms Harney becomes the first woman to hold the position of Tanaiste. When elected PD leader in October, 1993, she was the first woman to lead a national party.
She began her Oireachtas career in Fianna Fail, when Mr Jack Lynch appointed her to the Seanad in 1977. She lost the Fianna Fail whip for supporting the AngloIrish Agreement, and she left the party to form the Progressive Democrats with Mr Des O'Malley in 1985.
She was Minister of State for the Environment in the 1989 to 1992 FF-PD government when she introduced a ban on smoky coal to rid Dublin of its smog.
David Andrews
Minister for Defence (and European Affairs)
Mr Andrews's government career began in 1970 when he was appointed parliamentary secretary (minister of state) to the Taoiseach and government chief whip. He was minister of state for foreign affairs from July, 1977, to December, 1979, and minister of state for justice from 1978 to 1979.
He was left on the back benches leadership, but was restored to the cabinet when Mr Reynolds appointed him minister for foreign affairs in 1992 and later minister for defence and the marine. A barrister, aged 62, he has represented Dun Laoghaire since 1965.
Noel Dempsey
Minister for the
Environment (and Rural
Development)
Mr Dempsey (44), a career guidance counsellor, was first elected to the Dail for Meath in 1987. He was minister of state at the Departments of the Taoiseach and Defence and chief whip from February, 1992, to January, 1993, and then minister of state at the Department of the Taoiseach, with special responsibility as government chief whip, and at the Department of Finance, with special responsibility for the Office of Public Works, and at the Department of Defence.
In opposition as party spokesman on the environment, he firmly ruled out the reintroduction of water rates if Fianna Fail was returned to power.
David Byrne Attorney General
Mr Byrne (50) is a close associate of the Taoiseach and an active member of Fianna Fail. He was called to the Bar in 1970 and was made a senior counsel in 1985.
A native of Monasterevin, Co Kildare, he was founder chairman of Free Legal Advice Centres and has been treasurer of the Bar Council. He has practised widely in insurance, planning and arbitration and was the tribunal's senior counsel at the Beef Tribunal. He served on the constitutional review group set up by the government in 1995, was legal adviser to a government review body which recommended changes in the social welfare law.
Micheal Martin
Minister for Education
(and Science and Technology)
Mr Martin (37) was first elected to the Dail for Cork South Central in 1989, having also been a candidate in 1987. His early political experience was gained as a member of Ogra Fianna Fail, and he became its national chairman. He was lord mayor of Cork in 1992.
A teacher, he was chairman of the Oireachtas all party committee on the Irish language from 1989 to 1992 and also chaired the Dail committee on the Solicitors' Bill.
As the party's spokesman on education, he has strongly advocated a review of the points system for entrance to third level courses.
Sile de Valera
Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht (Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands)
Dublin born Ms de Valera (42), who is a granddaughter of Eamon de Valera and first cousin of Galway West TD, Mr Eamon O Cuiv, has represented Clare since 1987. She was first elected to the Dail in 1977 for the then constituency of Dublin Mid County, and she was also a member of the European Parliament from 1979 to 1984.
A teacher, as spokeswoman on arts and culture she had some notable verbal clashes with the minister for arts, culture and the Gaeltacht, Mr Higgins, who reminded Ms de Valera that, unlike herself, he was a native of Clare.
John O'Donoghue
Minister for Justice, and Equality and Law Reform
A deputy for Kerry South since 1987, Mr O'Donoghue (41) was appointed minister of state for finance, with responsibility for the Office of Public Works, by Mr Charles Haughey in November, 1991, but was returned to the back benches by Mr Albert Reynolds when he took over as party leader and Taoiseach in February, 1992.
A solicitor, as party spokesman on justice in the last Dail he advocated the controversial zero tolerance policy on crime. His colourful and strongly worded attacks on the government provoked those at the receiving end to describe him as the Bull McCabe of Irish politics, a gibe in which he revelled.
Jim McDaid
Minister for Tourism and
Trade (Tourism, Sport and Recreation)
Dr McDaid (47) came within hours of becoming minister for defence in 1991. His nomination by Mr Haughey for the post was vigorously challenged by the opposition parties following revelations that he had been photographed outside the Four Courts in 1990 with a republican, Mr James Pius Clarke, whose extradition had been successfully opposed. The PDs, in government with Fianna Fail, opposed the nomination and Dr McDaid asked Mr Haughey to withdraw it.
Last February, Dr McDaid was appointed to the Fianna Fail frontbench.
Brian Cowen
Minister for Health (and Children)
Mr Cowen (37) got his first big break in politics when he was chosen from the backbenches to become minister for labour by Mr Albert Reynolds in February, 1992. He was appointed minister for transport, energy and communications in January, 1993, and remained a staunch Reynolds loyalist up to the fall of the FF Labour government.
In opposition he was Fianna Fail spokesman on agriculture and later on health. A solicitor, he was first elected to the Dail for Laois Offaly in 1984 in a by election caused by the death of his father, Mr Bernard Cowen. Mr Cowen has been the "warm up" man at party ardfheiseanna.
Charlie McCreevy Minister for Finance
A TD for Kildare since 1977, he was originally a supporter of Mr Haughey but spent several years in the political wilderness after opposing his leadership.
His first ministerial appointment came in February 1992, when he was made minister for social welfare by Mr Albert Reynolds. He was appointed minister for tourism and trade in January, 1993, and was the party's spokesman on finance when it went into opposition. An accountant, Mr McCreevy (48) has a reputation for being outspoken and is not afraid to express views which might not be fully in line with those of the party.
Mary O'Rourke
Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications (Public Enterprise)
Aged 60 years, Ms O'Rourke was certain to be in the cabinet, given that she is the party's deputy leader. She was elected to the Seanad in 1981 and became the deputy for the old constituency of LongfordWestmeath in 1982, later representing Westmeath.
A teacher, she was minister for education from 1987 to 1991, later minister for health and minister of state for trade and marketing, as well as spokeswoman on enterprise and employment. Ms O'Rourke and her late brother, Brian Lenihan, were the first brother and sister to serve together in cabinet.
Michael Woods
Minister for the Marine
(Natural Resources)
Dr Woods (62) has considerable ministerial experience, particularly in the Department of Social Welfare, where he served from 1987 to 1991 and from 1993 to 1994. He was minister for health and social welfare from 1979 to 1981 and from March to December, 1992. His first ministerial appointment was as government chief whip in 1979.
A TD for Dublin North East since 1977, Dr Woods is a horticulturalist author of Research in Ireland, Key Economic and Social Development and numerous technical and scientific papers.
Ray Burke
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Mr Burke (54), who represents Dublin North, has been a deputy since 1973. His first ministerial appointment was as minister of state for industry, commerce and energy in 1978. In the 1980s he was minister for the environment, minister for energy and communications and minister for justice and communications. He was minister for justice from 1991 to 1992.
He was party spokesman on foreign affairs in the last Dail. An estate agent, his father the late Patrick J. Burke, represented Dublin county constituencies from 1944 until his retirement in 1973.
Joe Walsh
Minister for Agriculture,
Food and Forestry
Joe Walsh's appointment to the Cabinet marks his return to the agriculture portfolio which he held prior to the dissolution of the Fianna Fail Labour coalition in 1994. He was minister for agriculture and food from 1992-1993 and continued as minister when the Department's portfolio was expanded to include forestry in January 1993.
A former dairy manager, Mr Walsh (54) has been a member of the Dail since 1977, with the exception of the period June 1981-February 1982: He has been particularly critical of the handling of the BSE crisis by the outgoing minister for agriculture, Mr Ivan Yates.