A bold re-direction of the coalition or new wine in old bottles?

The prolonged, almost theatrical tease that the Cabinet reshuffle had become, as Taoiseach and Tánaiste deliberated day after day over their new team, inevitably tended to focus minds on what we did not know – the names. Who was on from the bench, who was off, who was to be switched from the wing to the centre, or banished to the outfield?

And, what we did know in advance, in broad terms, the real political substance of the reshuffle – the rebranding of, or a new direction for the Government, depending on your political persuasion – was inevitably eclipsed in the razzmatazz. Like watching the launch of a “New”, “Cleans Whiter” formula washing powder, how often do we ask ourselves whether the stuff in the box has really anything much new about it?

A "nuancing" of the programme for Government, as one Minister has put it ? Or a renegotiation, and a significantly new programme? Either way, the subtext of the listing of priorities from both Enda Kenny and Joan Burton was broadly similar: "we hear your pain, recovery is underway but we can do more on jobs and tax and housing and jobs to help hard-working families", code in Fine Gael-speak for the middle classes, and in Labour-speak for workers and the low-paid.

Oh, and did we mention jobs ...

Burton was perhaps more successful, however, in pitching the rebranding as a predominantly Labour project, her repeated references to "a social recovery" to match the "economic", a clearer "left" definition of the thrust and direction of the initiatives. Labour, after all, is the party that has lost most ground in the polls and elections, whose implementation of austerity measures has left it the most in need of a helping hand ... Fine Gael will not begrudge it a little bit more of the limelight.

Not least because the reallocation of portfolios did not quite match expectations that Labour had been spinning ahead of time. No European job for former tánaiste Eamon Gilmore, no jobs ministry for it (although a super-junior minister in compensation), and, although Alan Kelly has been given overall charge of the Labour priority of housing, it comes as a poisoned chalice; briefs of water and property taxes.

On the positive side, there will be five all-new ministerial faces at the Cabinet table, the number of women (four plus the Attorney General) is a new high, the diaspora is to get a junior ministry, Europe gets a new Irish commissioner with a direct line to the Taoiseach, and a new doctor brings his stethoscope to the dysfunctional Department of Health for a second opinion.

And the Government gets a new chance to explain itself and polish its image, to reinvigorate its sense of purpose, and to reconnect with a sceptical public. But, with only two years to go; perhaps less.