ALMOST two weeks after taking office, the Government has completed the appointment of the 17 new Ministers of State, but the line-up contains few new faces and is dominated by older figures, including a number from the Haughey era.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, yesterday proposed the final 13 junior ministers for Cabinet approval. The total composition contains just two women - Ms Liz O'Donnell, of the Progressive Democrats, and Ms Mary Wallace (FF, Meath).
Cautiously relying on older party deputies for his junior team, Mr Ahern has chosen politicians with an average age of 50. The choices must inevitably disappoint some of the younger TDs, including Mr Eoin Ryan, of Dublin South East, and Mr Brian Lenihan, of Dublin West, both of whom were hotly tipped for promotion.
Speaking to journalists at Government Buildings, Mr Ahern said his decision had been based on geographical factors and his omission of new TDs was grounded in the belief that such deputies should not be elevated to ministerial status on first arriving in the Dail.
However, Galway West and Dublin South appear to have fared disproportionately well in terms of representation, with three junior ministers allocated to each constituency. Four of the appointments bad been completed before yesterday - those of Mr Seamus Brennan, Mr Robert Molloy, Mr Michael Smith and Ms Liz O'Donnell.
Those sanctioned by Cabinet yesterday are: Mr Noel Davern, Mr Joe Jacob, Mr Frank Fahey, Mr Willie O'Dea, Mr Tom Kitt, Mr Chris Flood, Mr Danny Wallace, Mr Ned O'Keeffe, Mr Hugh Byrne, Ms Mary Wallace, Mr Martin Cullen, Mr Eamon O Cuiv and Dr Tom Moffat.
Within hours of the appointments, the former Democratic Left Minister of State, Mr Pat Rabbitte, attacked Fianna Fail for what he termed "humbug" in relation to the number of junior ministers. In Opposition, he said, Fianna Fail had strongly criticised the Rainbow Coalition for appointing 17 Ministers of State - two more than the number of Ministers - and Mr Charlie McCreevy had promised to repeal the legislation allowing for the increase.
Mr Rabbitte quoted Mr McCreevy as saying in 1995 that having IS Ministers of State "has had as much to do with political patronage as with any real necessity for so many appointments". According to Mr Rabbitte, if the 1995 legislation had provided for 18 Ministers of State, "we could always ruefully reflect that the country would not have been deprived of the undoubted talents of Deputy Ivor Callely, so harshly passed over on this occasion
The scarcity of female representation drew an immediate disappointed response from the National Women's Council of Ireland, which said another opportunity to bring more women into decision-making posts had been missed.
Fine Gael's Senator Niamh Cosgrave claimed the Taoiseach had neglected "northside Dublin" in his appointments. To appoint three from Dublin South was "ridiculous and superfluous in the extreme", she said.