A SENIOR CABINET minister has said that there will be a Cabinet reshuffle in September, citing previous remarks by the Taoiseach, but has admitted nobody knows what is going to happen.
Education Minister Ruairí Quinn faces the distinct possibility of being moved out of his portfolio in the wake of the reception he received from teachers at various conferences yesterday, but he says he wants to stay.
Speaking to RTÉ Radio this morning, Quinn insisted that he wanted to stay at the Department of Education and had told the INTO confernece yesterday that he hoped to be back next year.
Quinn confirmed, based on that the Taoiseach has said, that there will be a Cabinet reshuffle after the European elections, indicating it will be in September, but on the details of what ministers will be moved where, he said: ”Nobody knows, it’s all speculation.”
Quinn was also pressed on whether there had been ‘drift’ in government since the departure of the Troika last December. He admitted that there have been “some things that came out which came out quite badly, quite frankly”.
“We are very conscious of the need to maintain the sense of reform. We’re not out of the woods yet,” he said.
“The fact that the Troika have left is great for all of us but we have to demonstrate that we are able to continue the journey of getting our economy back up and properly working. There are very positive signs but they’re only positive signs.”
He said that his decision to defy the Taoiseach on the issue of the garda commissioner in March was him “responding to the public opinion that ultimately resulted in my views being accepted”.
“I think we have to work better together. I think that’s understood by all of us and that’s what the Labour Party intends to do under the leadership of Eamon Gilmore,” he added.
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