I wish to announce for the information of the Dáil, (1) that having informed the Commission constituted as provided in section 2 of Article 14 of the Constitution, that Dáil Éireann has approved my nomination of Deputy Seán Barrett to be a member of the Government, the Commission yesterday appointed him accordingly; (2) I subsequently assigned the Department of Defence and the Department of Marine to Deputy Seán Barrett and, further, that the Government today appointed Deputy Jim Higgins as Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach with special responsibility as Government Whip and as Minister of State at the Department of Defence and, further, Deputy Hugh Coveney as Minister of State at the Department of Finance.
