Will Enda Ring Michael?

ALONE WITH THEIR THOUGHTS Enda Kenny and Michael Ring stand shoulder to shoulder after being re-elected to the DΡil. Kenny must decide tomorrow if Ring is going to be a member of his Cabinet ?Pic: Liam Sweeney

Will Enda Ring Michael?


Supporters want Ministry for Westport TD but Cabinet  still shrouded in secrecy

Áine Ryan

“THAT’S a matter for Enda.”  Tight-lipped. Low key. It is not typical of outspoken Fine Gael TD, Michael Ring, not to comment. Particularly when the question is directly about him. 
Now that the blue tsunami ensures that Enda Kenny is installed tomorrow (Wednesday) as Taoiseach of the 31st DΡil, there is only one question left to be answered here in Mayo. Will Deputy Michael Ring be promoted to a ministry? If his supporters have anything to do with it, he will.
After all he has been a loyal lieutenant of Enda Kenny’s and was among the first to nail his colours to the mast after last Summer’s failed heave by ‘the cappuccino cabal’. And, after all, his surplus on Friday, February 25 last, helped the mammoth task of returning an historic four Fine Gael TDs from Mayo.
And according to his Director of Elections, Patrick Durcan, the former town and county councillor, who has ‘worked very hard in DΡil Éireann for the last 16 years’ definitely deserves ministerial office.
“Michael is a highly intelligent man and has worked very hard. I am of the view that he certainly deserves a ministry. I also think that the west needs a good and loud voice in government. I believe he has all the qualities to be an excellent minister and if anybody deserves it, he does,” Mr Durcan, a Westport solicitor and former senator, said.
This was echoed by Ring campaigner and Westport town councillor, Christy Hyland.
“From my experience of being out on the campaign trail with him before the election, all I can say is that if every Fine Gael candidate in other constituencies worked as hard as him, there would have been an overall majority and no need for a coalition government.  I just hope his hard work is rewarded,” Cllr Hyland told The Mayo News last night.
“Michael Ring is a people’s person. He understands all the problems people have been going through and he relates to the people.  If he doesn’t get a senior ministry, the least he should get is a junior ministry where there is a good budget, ” he continued.
Speaking also last night, newly-elected TD, Michelle Mulherin said that ‘personally’ she would like to see Michael Ring as a minister.
“I feel Enda Kenny will do his best for Michael Ring and that he appreciates all his hard work and ability. But I can’t speculate as to what the outcome will be,” Ms Mulherin said.
When questioned by The Mayo News, she dismissed reports in national newspapers suggesting there would be no ministry in Connaught.
“Enda Kenny is even-handed. It is one of his hallmarks. So I cannot see that being the case here on the western seaboard.”
While serving on the Opposition benches, Michael Ring has garnered broad experience as spokesman on Social Protection, Community, Rural and the Gaeltacht Affairs, as well as Agriculture and Health. He also served on the British-Irish Parliamentary Body. Ring was nominated as the Back-Bencher of the Year by the Sunday Independent in 1995 and voted as best Performer in the DΡil in 2001 by the Sunday Tribune.

New front bench
SPECULATION has been rife within the national Press over the weekend as to the identities of the new front-benchers. With two parties to satisfy, however, and all the variables, including geographical considerations, to be included in the mathematics, Mayo, or indeed Connaught, has not been featuring among the top portfolios. 
It is expected that Michael Noonan will be the next Minister for Finance, with Labour’s Joan Burton appointed to the new post of Public Sector Reform. Labour Party leader, Eamon Gilmore is expected to be TΡnaiste and Minister for Foereign Affairs, while the Health portfolio will go to Dr James Reilly and Environment to Phil Hogan.
Enda Kenny, who was in talks for much of the weekend with TΡnaste-to-be, Eamon Gilmore, is expected to allocate ten ministries to Fine Gael and five to the Labour Party. By all accounts, the high-powered coalition talks – led by Phil Hogan, Michael Noonan and Alan Shatter of Fine Gael and Pat Rabbitte, Joan Burton and Brendan Howlin of the Labour Party  reached palatable compromises on the key issues. They include commitments to renegotiate a more credible debt payment package with the EU and the IMF, a scaling a back on the number of public sector job cuts (from Fine Gael’s proposed 30,000) to 25,000, a Strategic Investment Bank (Labour manifesto proposal) and the reversal of the minimum wage cut.