Politics

Analysis: Fine Gael TD turns down junior minister job due to family reasons amid reshuffle

Party leaders largely stuck with familiar faces, but there were several significant changes

Party leaders from the three government parties with the new junior ministers. Picture: Rollingnews.ie

There was good news for Fine Gael backbenchers Jennifer Carroll-MacNeill and Kieran O’Donnell who were rewarded on the basis of work rate, gender and geography.

Both have been strong performers for Fine Gael and have gone out to bat publicly for the party in the media, something which Taoiseach Leo Varadkar likes.

But Carroll-MacNeill, the new minister of state for financial services, benefited from his need to improve the gender balance of Fine Gael’s ministerial ...