CABINET TALKS:ENDA KENNY and Eamon Gilmore will meet today to discuss the composition of the next government, with Fine Gael expected to get 10 cabinet posts and Labour five.
Labour will also get a “super junior” ministerial position which will bring its representation at cabinet meetings to six.
The key Department of Finance will be split, with Fine Gael getting responsibility for the budget, taxation and economic planning, while Labour will have responsibility for public expenditure and public sector reform.
It is expected that Fine Gael will get enterprise and employment as well as health while Labour will have foreign affairs, social protection and education.
Labour leader and tánaiste-in-waiting Eamon Gilmore is expected to opt for foreign affairs.
On the Fine Gael side the near certainties for cabinet are Michael Noonan, who will get finance, Richard Bruton, Phil Hogan, Alan Shatter, James Reilly and Frances Fitzgerald. Simon Coveney is also expected to get a senior ministry.
The favourites to fill the final two slots are Seán Barrett, Leo Varadkar, Jimmy Deenihan and Fergus O’Dowd. There has been speculation that Mr Barrett, who strongly backed Mr Kenny during the leadership heave last summer, will be offered the post of ceann comhairle.
With a lot of ministers in their late 50s or older there will be pressure on Mr Kenny to appoint some talented younger TDs. That should favour the promotion of Mr Varadkar.
On the Labour side certainties for cabinet are the three TDs who were involved in negotiating the coalition deal, Brendan Howlin, Pat Rabbitte and Joan Burton.
Whether the crucial post at finance will go to Ms Burton or Mr Rabbitte is the subject of speculation but it is expected one of them will get the job.
The final position at cabinet could go to any one of a number of Labour TDs. Ruairí Quinn, the former party leader and highly regarded minister for finance from 1994 to 1997, is an obvious candidate for cabinet office.
Like Mr Noonan, he has considerable experience of cabinet going back to the 1980s and 1990s which could be invaluable in the current difficult conditions.
However, Labour’s Róisín Shortall and Jan O’Sullivan made strong contributions in opposition and the appointment of either would only bring the number of women in cabinet to three.
On the Fine Gael side there are any number of contenders for the junior ministerial ranks.
