Dara Calleary to return to Cabinet as part of reshuffle
Mayo Calleary Td Dara
Fianna Fáil’s Dara Calleary has been elevated to Cabinet as a super junior, while Kildare TD James Lawless has been made a junior minister as part of the latest reshuffle.
An incorporeal Cabinet meeting this afternoon rubberstamped the changes, with Mr Calleary remaining in his current position at the Department of Enterprise.
Mr Lawless has replaced new Finance Minister Jack Chambers as the junior minister at the Department of Transport with responsibility for roads.
He will also be a junior minister at the Department of Environment.
Mr Calleary has now returned to Cabinet almost four years on from his resignation as Agriculture Minister, following the Golfgate controversy in August 2020.
The Mayo Fianna Fáil TD has been in the Dáil since 2007, while Mr Lawless has been a TD for Kildare South since 2016.
Until his promotion to the junior benches this afternoon, Mr Lawless had served as chair of the Oireachtas Justice Committee.
In recent days, there had been speculation that Tánaiste Micheál Martin could appoint Cavan-Monaghan TD Niamh Smyth to the junior benches, following her high-profile performances throughout the RTÉ controversy as chair of the Media Committee.