What are the chances of Sligo getting cabinet post?
On the face of it, the chances of Sligo getting a seat the next cabinet table would appear to be slim.
With talks still underway between Sinn Féin and a number of smaller parties and independents it looks as though Sligo could be left out in the cold when it comes to any of its four elected TDs becoming a senior minister.
If Sinn Féin does manage to cobble a coalition of sorts then Sligo/Leitrim TD Martin
Kenny does obviously come into the reckoning as he has most recently been the party’s front bench spokesperson on justice.
However, compromise is all part of the wheeling and dealing now and if the party does form a Government it will have to share posts around and Pearse Doherty is the obvious contender for a senior post.
Given his proximity to Sligo in Donegal, leader Mary Lou McDonald might feel another senior post in the North West might not be warranted.
However, Deputy Kenny may well be in the shake-up for a junior minister post.
Sligo/Leitrim has had these positions in the recent past, John Perry as Minister of State for Small Business under Fine Gael and Dr Jimmy Devins as Junior Minister with special responsibility for Disability Issues and Mental Health under a Fianna Fáil led Government in 2007
It has been 32 years since the constituency saw a senior cabinet post, that of Ray
MacSharry (Minister for Finance) in 1988.
If Fianna Fáil come back into the reckoning for the formation of a government then Deputy Marc MacSharry will be hoping leader Micheal Martin will be looking his way.
Appointed to the party’s front bench in the recent past, Marc’s hand would have been much stronger had two Fianna Fáil TDs been elected here.
Martin would have been in much better mood had Eamon Scanlon held on to his seat.
Fine Gael’s Frank Feighan is the most unlikely to figure in government with leader, Leo Varadkar already signalling his intent to try to re-build the party from the opposition benches following a very poor performance by the party in the General Election.
Independent Marian Harkin is attempting to form a rural alliance of deputies but it remains to be seen if such a grouping can form and secondly agree a package with either Sinn Féin or Fianna Fáil.
There’s a lot of work to be done with a lot of contenders seeking a cabinet role. Sligo may well be left waiting again.