A Cheann Comhairle, b'áíl liom cead a chur in iúl, mar eolas don Dáil, gur chuir mé m'ainmniú mar Thaoiseach in iúl don Uachtarán agus gur cheap sí mé dá réir.
I beg leave to announce, for the information of the Dáil, that I have informed the President that the Dáil has nominated me to be the Taoiseach and that she has appointed me accordingly.
Tairgim: "Go gcomhaontóidh Dáil Éireann leis an Taoiseach d'ainmniú na dTeachtaí seo a leanas chun a gceaptha ag an Uachtarán mar chomhaltaí den Rialtas."
I move: "That Dáil Éireann approve the nomination by the Taoiseach of the following Deputies for appointment by the President to be members of the Government."
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Máire Ní Áirne |
Mary Harney, |
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I also propose to nominate her as Tánaiste; |
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Micheál Ó hUadhaigh |
Michael Woods |
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Rae de Búrca |
Ray Burke |
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Máire Uí Ruairc |
Mary O'Rourke |
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Dáithí Mac Aindriú |
David Andrews |
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Seosamh Breathnach |
Joe Walsh |
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Cathal Mac Riabhaigh |
Charlie McCreevy |
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Brian Ó Comhain |
Brian Cowen |
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Nollaig Ó Diomasaigh |
Noel Dempsey |
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Diarmuid Ó hEichiarn |
Dermot Ahern |
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Síle de Valera |
Síle de Valera |
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Seán Ó Donnchú |
John O'Donoghue |
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Séamus MacDaibhéad |
Jim McDaid |
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agus |
and |
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Micheál Ó Máirtín |
Micheál Martin |
It has been the practice at this stage to indicate the Departments to which members of the Government will be assigned. I propose, using the old Departments structure, to assign as follows:
Department of Enterprise and Employment to Mary Harney,
Department of the Marine to Michael Woods,
Department of Foreign Affairs to Ray Burke,
Department of Transport, Energy and Communications to Mary O'Rourke,
Department of Defence to David Andrews,
Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry to Joe Walsh,
Department of Finance to Charlie McCreevy,
Department of Health to Brian Cowen,
Department of the Environment to Noel Dempsey,
Department of Social Welfare to Dermot Ahern,
Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht to Síle de Valera,
Department of Justice and the Department of Equality and Law Reform to John O'Donoghue,
Department of Tourism and Trade to Jim McDaid,
and
Department of Education to Micheál Martin.
I also propose to nominate Deputy Séamus Brennan for appointment by the Government as Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, with special responsibility as Government Chief Whip. He will also be Minister of State at the Department of Defence. I propose to nominate Deputy Bobby Molloy for appointment as Minister of State to the Government and Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and it is my intention that he will attend Government meetings in the same way as the Chief Whip does. As seven of my 14 nominees have not been in Cabinet before, I wish them, and the others, every success in the future. I propose to nominate Mr. David Byrne, Senior Counsel, for appointment by the President to be the Attorney General and I will propose the other Ministers of State for appointment by the Government at an early date.
I have allocated the members of the Government to Departments on the basis of existing divisions of responsibility. There are, however, substantial changes which I propose to make in departmental responsibilities and organisation to reflect or to emphasise new priorities in Government. The full details of these changes will be worked out over the coming days.
I propose to return Trade to the Department of Enterprise and Employment, with which it more logically fits. Foreign trade is the lifeblood of our economy and is inseparable from the companies engaged in industry and commerce. I am essentially reuniting functions that naturally belong together.
I will be broadening the title and remit of Health, so that it becomes the Department of Health and Children. The full implementation of child care legislation is a very important priority, and this will be reflected in the description of the Department's responsibilities. I acknowledge the significant advances made during Deputy Currie's tenure of responsibility.
The Minister for Social Welfare will become the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs. The broader remit will reflect that social inclusion means more than just income support, vital though that may be. Working with voluntary and community organisations can make a lot of difference to improving opportunities for self-help and for employment in the more disadvantaged areas. The family unit is the foundation of social cohesion and needs to be supported at a policy level. The implications of decisions for the family need to be taken into account at the Cabinet table. Community and family affairs, as well as various issues of social inclusion, can best be dealt with by revamping the old Department of Social Welfare.
The Department of Transport, Energy and Communications has become de facto responsible for most of our larger commercial semi-State companies and for much of the State's direct involvement in the economy. I propose to recognise this explicitly by renaming the Department and establishing it as the Department of Public Enterprise. This will have the benefit of underlining our commitment to a dynamic State sector. In the words of our programme, we intend “to enable them to be competitive and cost-effective as providers of vital public services to the benefit of the consumer”. This innovation will provide important and welcome recognition and encouragement to all those who work in the commercial public sector, which includes some of the country's best companies. It may be objected to on the grounds that some of the responsibilities of the existing Department such as some parts of telecommunications mainly involve the private sector. That may be true, but it is the State or some delegated public authority on its behalf that issues the licences, as the wavelengths are in the first instance the property of the State. ‘Public enterprise’ should be understood not only to include the public sector, but also those fields of enterprise that are allocated by the public domain for private sector operation.
I am making an alteration to the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, and propose to rename it the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands. Within the Department, the Gaeltacht and the Islands will preserve their separate identity, and I will give a Minister of State responsibility for them. The arts in this State have progressed from benign neglect, to enlightened cultural patronage in the days when Charles Haughey was Taoiseach, then to systematic organisation under a Government Department carrying full Cabinet rank. I acknowledge the important pioneering contribution by Deputy Michael D. Higgins as the first such Minister, even if some of our priorities may be different.
I regard heritage as a very important ingredient in the new Department, which I would like to highlight and upgrade. It is about fostering our cultural identity both for our own benefit and for the benefit of those who visit our shores in search of the features that are distinctively Irish. Some of our offshore islands have been badly neglected in the past. The inhabitants have needs which must be met if we wish to see the islands continue to support the critical mass of population. The islands are an important facet of our cultural identity and none of us should begrudge the measures, which are not particularly costly in overall terms, which will prevent further depopulation.
The Department of Equality and Law Reform had responsibility for the passage of the divorce referendum and accompanying legislation and also for equality legislation which will have to be revisited following judgments in the Supreme Court. I pay tribute to the work of the retired Deputy Taylor, a Minister for whom we all had great respect. However, law reform is a natural complement to law enforcement and belongs with the Department of Justice whose functions should include equality, or put another way, the prohibition of discrimination. The function of equality and law reform should be highlighted rather than subordinated and, therefore, I will expand the remit of the Minister and the Department and call it the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.
Science and technology was given a new political impetus when Fianna Fáil returned to Government in 1987 which it has tended to lose gradually in the l990s, notwithstanding the best efforts of Deputy Rabbitte and his predecessors. While applied technology is an integral part of industrial development, teaching, training and much important research takes place in the universities and colleges, and clearly belongs with the education remit. Continuing expansion will require us to meet the educational, training and research needs of new industries setting up in Ireland and the Minister for Education, Science and Technology will need to liaise closely with the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, who will continue to handle the industrial research side of Forbairt. Ireland needs to be at the cutting edge of scientific advance as we draw level with other countries in terms of living standards. Science and research needs more priority in terms of resources. For the first time, we are raising it to full Cabinet level. It will be the responsibility of a Minister of State in the Department of Education who will co-operate with and co-ordinate necessary activities with the Department of Enterprise, Employment and Trade.
I will continue to combine agriculture and food to emphasise that our agri-food industry needs to be market and consumer-driven, not only production driven. However, as indicated in our Programme for Government, to ensure full confidence in the quality of our food from a health point of view, responsibility for a statutory independent science-based food safety and quality authority will be placed on the Department of Health and Children. I will create a new Department of Natural Resources, which will include mining, marine and forestry.
The Department of the Environment will add rural development to its name and its responsibilities will also include western development. There is a great need for development to maintain the fabric of rural life and the population to underpin the provision of vital services and, as a party, Fianna Fáil published a detailed policy discussion document setting out what is required.
There will also be a new Department of Tourism, Sport and Recreation, to which I also propose to transfer responsibility for local development, subject to further consideration and consultation. Sport is for the first time being given full Cabinet status. I feel strongly that sport has the same importance for national well-being as, for example, arts and culture. Recent successes have given us an international profile, which is also helpful to the promotion of our tourism industry. Tourism is now one of the country's largest employers. Along with the issues we raised in the broader area of sport and recreation, they have the related advantage of helping the disadvantaged and less well off in our society achieve personal betterment, about which I feel strongly. We are not only talking about elite sports people who tend to receive the commentary but about giving people the opportunity to reach their potential.
The Minister for Defence in addition to his normal responsibilities, will have a responsibility under the direction of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, for European affairs. Modern Ministers for Foreign Affairs have a heavy schedule of meetings on Northern Ireland, Europe and internationally. The Minister for Foreign Affairs needs to be able to share the burden of attending numerous important meetings without loss of function or overall policy direction, with another colleague of Cabinet rank. The Minister for Defence and European Affairs will not remove any function from Foreign Affairs where he will have a second office, but will share in the work. I also envisage his assisting the Minister for Foreign Affairs in representing the Government at the Northern Ireland peace talks, so there will be less need to rotate attendance which multiplies the number of Ministers to be briefed. Deputy John Bruton will know that many of those involved in the talks process want the same people involved all the time and this is a way to do that.
Our action programme has been published and will form the basis for our work in Government. Much of the detail is contained in our respective manifestos, our joint statements during the election and the background policy discussion documents. Our priorities coming into Government are clear.
Restoring peace in Northern Ireland, defusing conflict and making progress towards a settlement with the new British Government and the parties is a vital priority. I will at all times safeguard our democracy and give leadership to the Irish nation as we try to build confidence, reconciliation, trust and co-operation between people on this island. There is now a real opportunity for peace and progress towards a political settlement, which I hope will be promoted and facilitated by all parties. I will contribute with the British Government to providing the necessary momentum. I will try to help avoid confrontation so that we move away from the destructive zero sum politics of the past by which everyone lost, to a politics by which everyone gains. I would like to be judged by an improvement in human and community relations during my period in office and the ability to move to a less contentious and more productive agenda. To borrow a phrase, if I can help to make Northern Ireland a kinder and gentler place over the next five years, I will be well pleased.
My Government will seek to maintain rapid economic progress, increase employment, raise living standards and continue co-operation with the social partners. We believe tighter economic management is needed to safeguard the gains of recent years and maximise further growth so it will pay dividends for all. We need to correct course so the dynamism of the Irish economy does not go off the rails. We will show political responsibility at all times. We must make a safe and careful transition to monetary union and provide for the eventuality of some tapering off of EU funding. We would also like to be judged on our ability to make major inroads into poverty, disadvantage, social exclusion and long-term unemployment. Reducing the grip of drugs addiction and violent crime on certain parts of the community will be an integral part of that programme.
Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats come to office with the most comprehensive, farreaching and progressive environmental policies ever put forward by parties coming into Government. They are integrated into our other policies. Those who share a commitment to green policies should take note of what we are endeavouring to do. We intend to implement those policies in a way that will transform habits and attitudes. We hope to make the next five years a period of exciting national progress, building on all that has been achieved by successive Governments since 1987. We look forward to active and constructive engagement with the Dáil in our work.
I commend the new Government to the Dáil and wish my colleagues every success in the years ahead.