Dara Calleary linked with Cabinet position in reshuffle

Calleary for next Cabinet?


Mayo TD linked with position in Cabinet reshuffle

Áine Ryan

WILL Calleary get a position in Cowen’s Cabinet reshuffle? Last night as The Mayo News went to press, it appeared as if the promotion of Junior Minister Dara Calleary was still in the frame, even though Taoiseach Brian Cowen continued to keep his cards close to his chest.
It has been over 13 years since Co Mayo has had a senior government minister representing its constituents at the cabinet table – and ironically, that was Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach-in-waiting Deputy Enda Kenny.   
Now, if the national media’s political analysts and commentators have their fingers on the political pulse, Deputy Calleary is in with a fighting chance, alongside junior ministers Conor Lenihan, Tony Killeen. Peter Power and John Curran, as well as Chief Whip, Pat Carey.
Even if Calleary is not promoted this time round, at 37, his star is in the ascendant and his possible sideways appointment as a Minister for State to a newly-formed department for economic planning will further enhance his profile and experience.
A member of a leading Mayo political dynasty, Dara Calleary’s father, SeΡn, was a TD for almost two decades, from 1973 to 1992, and a Minister of State in a number of departments on and off from 1979 until 1992. His grandfather, Phelim, was also a TD. 
When contacted by The Mayo News yesterday, Deputy Calleary declined to comment or speculate on his possible promotion.
“I’m just getting on with my day job and as we speak returning to Ballina to attend to my constituency work. I am very busy with my work as junior minister [for Labour Affairs],” he said.
In April 2009, after less than two years as a TD, Deputy Calleary was promoted by Taoiseach Brian Cowen to the position of Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
By all accounts, his wide experience in the business world, through his former role with Chambers Ireland, is viewed as a key advantage for his promotion to any economic portfolio.
Speaking to The Mayo News last night, Mr Michael Oliver, Fianna FΡil Chairman of the Mayo Comhairle DΡilcheantair, argued that both Dara Calleary and Deputy Beverley Flynn deserve promotion.
“We are hoping that Dara will be promoted to a senior ministry and that, somewhere along the line, Beverley Flynn, who is also very talented, will also be promoted,” Michael Oliver said.
“Mayo needs senior ministerial representation and both of these TDs are well able to address these difficult economic circumstances. In fact, Fianna FΡil is the only party that can get us out of this global crisis,” he continued.
Prior to Enda Kenny’s tenure as a senior government minister, Beverley Flynn’s father, Padraig, served in series of senior ministerial portfolios in the 1980s and 1990s before his appointment in 1993 as a European Commissioner.
Speaking to The Mayo News last night, Deputy Flynn said of Dara Calleary’s possible promotion: “It would be good for Mayo if we got a senior cabinet position.”
And of her own future, Beverley Flynn said: “Like any other TD, if you are offered a position of course you are honoured to take it up. But I haven’t been asked.”