DONNELLY AND HARRIS BOTH GET GOVERNMENT MINISTRIES
GREYSTONES is now home to two government ministers, with Fianna Fáil’s Stephen Donnelly having stepped into Simon Harris’ Health portfolio, while Minister Harris is starting a new Department of Higher Education, Innovation & Science.
Minister Donnelly said that he is ‘deeply honoured and humbled to have been appointed Minister for Health’.
‘It is going to be a busy time but I will continue to work hard for the people of Wicklow,’ he said.
‘The task of being Minister for Health is enormous but the reason I got into politics was simple... to be able to help people. It has always been and continues to be the driving force behind my work as a TD.’
He said that he hopes to be able to make difference to our health system but perhaps more importantly to the men, women and children who rely on it every day for their quality of life.
‘There’s no point pretending it is not going to be an enormous task made even more onerous by the Covid pandemic,’ said Minister Donnelly. ‘But even despite all of the challenges we are facing I still firmly believe we have a fantastic opportunity to improve the lives of so many.
‘Fianna Fáil’s slogan is An Ireland For All and when that comes to health it means universal healthcare - that means having high quality affordable care available at all times to everyone who needs it. We are going to be working around the clock to make it happen.’
Mr Donnelly said that he is also looking forward to working with healthcare workers to improve the system so that it is a place they are proud of and look forward to working in.
‘I have been talking to and listening to their concerns for the past two years,’ said the minister, who has been his party’s spokesperson for health. ‘Every doctor and nurse I have spoken to desperately wants to make our healthcare system better for their patients,’ he said. ‘Now is our chance to make that happen.’
In a statement yesterday Minister Harris said: ‘I am delighted to be appointed as Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research and Innovation.
‘Being Minister for Health was a great honour. I met the most amazing people doing the most incredible work and we managed to make good progress. I wish my successor Deputy Donnelly all the best and will work with him in whatever way I can.
‘I now take on a new challenge and I am really excited about it. I know only too well in light of the Covid pandemic the huge pressures that there are to get people back to work, to help people upskill, to help people keep a job or gain a new job.
‘Research, innovation, science – these are the things that can help drive investment to our country and also can help businesses right across our country.
‘This department will be an economic driver and a department that very much promotes social cohesion, inclusion and equality. I want to be the Minister who ensures every child leaving school has the opportunity to access further or higher education.
‘I want to be the Minister who ensures there are no barriers between a person reaching their potential. I will work day and night to ensuring any person – old or young – has the chance to learn and to learn in a safe environment.
‘This is your department. You, the people of Ireland, own it and I’m just the person who has the privilege to currently lead it. So I’ll be looking to you for your ideas, I’ll be looking to provide an opportunity for you to feed in those ideas and to give me your opinions as to what we should be working on.