FINE GAEL leader Enda Kenny has appointed his predecessor Michael Noonan and his former deputy leader Richard Bruton to senior positions on his new front bench.
Mr Noonan is the new finance spokesman while Mr Bruton, who led the recent heave against Mr Kenny, is spokesman on enterprise, jobs and economic planning, with responsibility for public service reform.
The new deputy leader is the party’s health spokesman, Dr James Reilly, while former minister Seán Barrett returns to the front bench as spokesman on foreign affairs.
Two of the younger figures involved in the heave, Simon Coveney and Leo Varadkar, were retained on the front bench but three others, Brian Hayes, Denis Naughten and Michael Creed, were dropped.
Announcing his new team yesterday, Mr Kenny described it as dedicated to removing Fianna Fáil from office.
“This group represents a mixture of experience and youth, of gender and geography. It is committed as a team to exercising energy and enthusiasm about the challenge we face.”
Mr Kenny said he had tried, insofar as was possible, to be inclusive and put recent events in the past.
Referring to Mr Bruton’s new portfolio, he pointed to the work the spokesman had already done in the area of public service reform and said he intended to appoint a full cabinet minister to deal with the issue when Fine Gael achieved office.
Mr Kenny said Michael Noonan was “a person with a long and serious involvement in Irish politics”, while the new deputy leader, James Reilly, would deal with the co-ordination of policy.
“I look forward to leading this team as the frontrunners for Fine Gael as we enter the last lap of the period before the forthcoming general election,” he told a press conference in Dublin.
When asked whether he was concerned that the people dropped from the front bench might be “waiting in the long grass” to strike back at him after the next adverse opinion poll, Mr Kenny replied: “There’s no long grass; it was all cut a couple of weeks ago.”
Kilkenny TD Phil Hogan, who played a crucial role in Mr Kenny’s victory over his internal critics, retained the environment portfolio, and was also appointed to the key post of director of elections.
Other Kenny loyalists on the front bench, Alan Shatter, Jimmy Deenihan and Michael Ring, were promoted, while Charlie Flanagan and Fergus O’Dowd, who opposed the leader, were retained on the team.
Those who were brought up from the backbenches were Catherine Byrne, Deirdre Clune, Andrew Doyle, Frank Feighan, John Perry and David Stanton. Paul Kehoe, who firmly backed Mr Kenny, was retained as chief whip. He said he had been offered a new brief but had asked to stay where he was.
Mr Bruton was asked at the press conference whether he now had full confidence in Enda Kenny’s leadership, and he replied: “Absolutely, I am fully confident. The parliamentary party made its decision on that.”
Mr Noonan said he would be building on the work done by Mr Bruton over the past couple of years. “Things are changing very rapidly – the financial situation is quite serious at present, and so I will be making a series of statements before too long.”
Dr Reilly was asked whether he was confident he had the experience and skill to deal with the front bench as policy co-ordinator. He replied: “I’m very confident that Fine Gael have a very bright future and will be the next government, and that Enda Kenny will be the next taoiseach.”