TÁNAISTE EAMON Gilmore has promoted Limerick TD Jan O’Sullivan (61) to fill the “super junior” ministerial position vacated by Willie Penrose last month, and elevated Dubliner Joe Costello (66) to Minister of State.
Ms O’Sullivan has been given the housing and planning portfolio. There was disappointment for Labour Ministers Alan Kelly and Róisín Shortall, who had hoped to inherit the brief following Mr Penrose’s resignation from Government over the closure of his local Army barracks in Mullingar.
There had been expectations in Labour circles that Mr Gilmore would seek to appoint younger people from rural constituencies.
Labour’s Cabinet Ministers are all in their 50s or 60s, and all, bar Brendan Howlin from Wexford, are from the capital.
One Labour backbencher, speaking anonymously, complained about the age profile and urban base of those promoted yesterday. “I didn’t think we went into government so that all the old-timers would get a taste of power before they retired,” the deputy said.
Ms O’Sullivan was until yesterday morning the Minister of State at Mr Gilmore’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, having been given responsibility for trade and development in March.
She will now be entitled to sit at the Cabinet table, although she will not be able to participate in votes.
Mr Costello, who represents Dublin Central, will take over Ms O’Sullivan’s former area of responsibility. Mr Costello was Labour’s director of elections in the recent presidential campaign.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny formally congratulated the pair.
“I know they will both bring a wealth of experience to their ministerial portfolios as well as great energy for the tasks which lie ahead,” he said.
Ms O’Sullivan said her priorities would be to address homelessness, the regeneration of her constituency and others, and the problems facing people who had difficulties paying their mortgages. She also mentioned “ghost estates”.
She said she would be a “very strong voice at Cabinet”.
While it was a great honour to serve in any capacity, “being at the Cabinet table gives me more influence, more opportunity to have my voice there, where the decisions are being made”.
She is entitled to appoint two special advisers. Yesterday she confirmed that Aidan Culhane, who was appointed on a salary in line with principal officers in the Civil Service by Mr Penrose, would continue as her adviser. She had given no thought to appointing a second adviser, she said.
Mr Costello said he was “delighted and honoured . . . to be stepping into the shoes that Jan has vacated”.
He said he had always had a particular interest in the area of trade and development. “The world will be one’s oyster.”
He said he was anxious that Ireland’s international reputation in the area of overseas development aid would be maintained.
Jan O’Sullivan: Minister of State for Housing and Planning
LIMERICK-BORN JAN O’Sullivan (61), a former pre-school teacher, was first elected to the Dáil in a 1998 byelection brought about by the death of Jim Kemmy.
Respected and liked within Labour and across party lines in Leinster House, in 2007 Ms O’Sullivan put in a strong performance in the contest for the position of deputy leader of her party. She was defeated by Joan Burton in a vote among party members, with Ms Burton receiving 1,480 votes to 1,276 for Ms O’Sullivan.
She was a member of the Democratic Socialist Party until it merged with the Labour Party, and was mayor of Limerick in 1993 and 1994. Elected to the Seanad in 1993, she was leader of Labour’s Seanad group until 1997. In March she was appointed Minister of State for Trade and Development.
Ms O’Sullivan lives in Corbally in Limerick. She is married to Paul O’Sullivan, and they have a son Paddy and a daughter Emily.
Joe Costello: Minister of State for Trade and Development
DUBLINER JOE Costello (66), a former secondary school teacher who represents Dublin Central, was first elected to the Dáil in 1992.
He lost his seat in 1997 and regained it in 2002.
Mr Costello is married to Labour Councillor Emer Costello, a former lord mayor. His sister-in-law Mary Moran was nominated to the Seanad this year by Tánaiste and Labour leader Eamon Gilmore. Another sister-in-law, Gráinne Malone, became a District Court judge last month.
He has protested outside the Mater hospital in his constituency every Saturday for some eight years in an effort to highlight conditions in accident and emergency departments.
He was a member of Dublin City Council between 1991 and 2003 and deputy lord mayor in 1991 and 1992.
He is a former president of the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland.
