SO AFTER MUCH speculation, we finally know what the new Cabinet looks like.
There were some surprises – Heather Humphreys and Ged Nash chief among them – and some recriminations, with former Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte taking to the airwaves to vent his unhappiness within minutes of being booted out.
The overall message from the new Cabinet was one of change – that this is going to be a leaner and refocused group of Ministers for the final 18 months of this government.
Here’s a round-up of some of the key numbers of the day.
2,335 - The number of words in Enda Kenny’s speech announcing the new Cabinet in the Dáil this afternoon.
130,000 - The number of jobs that Enda Kenny and Joan Burton said they are aiming to create in their refocused Programme for Government.
71 - The age of Michael Noonan, the oldest member of the Cabinet.
52.9 - The average age of the Cabinet members*.
35 - The age of Leo Varadkar, the youngest member of the Cabinet.
20 seconds - The length of the conversation between Pat Rabbitte and Joan Burton this morning (at least, according to Pat Rabbitte) during which he found out he was to lose his role as Minister for Communications.
7 - The number of ministers in the Cabinet who represent constituencies in Dublin.
5 - The number of times that the announcement of the new Cabinet was delayed today. It was originally meant to be 10.30am but ended up being 1.45pm.
5 - The number of female members of Cabinet (four Ministers plus the Attorney General).
5 - The number of brand new faces at the Cabinet: Heather Humphreys (FG) as Minister for Arts, Alex White (Lab) in Communications, Alan Kelly (Lab) in Environment, Paschal Donohoe (FG) in Transport and Ged Nash (Lab) as a super junior minister in Business and Employment.
3 - The number of Labour ministers who lost their roles in the reshuffle: Pat Rabbitte, Eamon Gilmore and Ruairí Quinn.
*Note: Minister for Arts Heather Humphreys was not taken into account as her age could not be confirmed by Fine Gael.
Another note: The figures include all 15 members of Cabinet, plus the Chief Whip and the Super Junior Ministerial positions announced today.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say