‘Reshuffle will be respected’
ALL Fine Gael Cabinet ministers will “respect” incoming Taoiseach Simon Harris’s decision to chop and change his Cabinet, Simon Coveney has said.
The Enterprise Minister insisted that while he will contest the next General Election, he will answer questions about his own future “in time”.
Mr Harris is now the new Fine Gael leader after nominations closed at 1pm on Sunday.
He was the only person to put his name forward to replace Leo Varadkar, who announced on Wednesday he was resigning from his role as Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader.
Mr Harris will become Taoiseach when the Dail returns from its Easter break on April 9.
The Fine Gael selection convention for the Midlands Northwest European constituency in Athlone on Sunday afternoon doubled up as Mr Harris’ coronation.
Asked if he should move on to allow Mr Harris to appoint other Cabinet ministers given that he has been at the top table for 11 years, Mr Coveney said that is a choice for the new leader.
He added: “I’ll talk to Simon about that when we meet later on this week, just to understand his thinking.
“I think Simon’s focus really is to try to use the talent that’s in the party to the maximum extent possible.
“There’s a lot of talent in Fine Gael.
“But really this is his call. I will respect that, as I think other people will, too.
“There are big issues at play here. We need to get back to running the country.
“Simon has to prepare for being Taoiseach in a coalition Government where we are working with two other parties.”
Justice Minister Helen Mcentee also stated it was the “prerogative” of any Taoiseach to decide who will be in their Cabinet.
She added: “I have a lot of work still to do in Justice obviously, but that is very much a decision for the Taoiseach”.