Daly “disappointed” Roscommon-Galway won’t have front-bench representation
The Government has announced its new lineup of Ministers of State, with several fresh faces and familiar names taking up key portfolios across a range of departments. The appointments will see ministers take on responsibilities in areas including housing, finance, health, agriculture, and enterprise.
Locally, Dr Martin Daly TD, the newly elected Fianna Fáil for Roscommon-Galway had been hotly tipped to take up a junior ministerial portfolio in the Department of Health; however, Deputy Daly has missed out on this occasion as has his constituency of Roscommon-Galway. Constituencies with senior and junior ministers tend to fare better than those without as the Programme for Government is rolled out during the term of a government.
Speaking to the Roscommon People, Deputy Daly accepted that being a first-term TD was always going to make getting a ministerial appointment more difficult, despite the high hopes of the local Fianna Fáil organisation: “That’s politics. I am a newly elected TD. The Taoiseach has appointed a strong front bench team and I intend to work hard to support that team.”
Expressing disappointment for the constituency, Deputy Daly said: “Not on a personal level but for the constituency I would be disappointed that it won’t have front bench representation. But there are many ways to represent your constituency and intend I to prove that you can be an effective advocate as a government TD without being a junior minister.”
Boyle native and former Minister of State at the Department of Health, Frank Feighan (Fine Gael TD for Sligo-Leitrim) was also not among those who received junior ministerial appointments. Feighan was elected in two consecutive elections in 2007 and 2011 for the constituency of Roscommon-South Leitrim. In November’s General Election, Feighan topped the poll in the Sligo-Leitrim constituency. Despite missing out on a ministerial appointment, Feighan has been announced as Fine Gael’s nominee for Leas Ceann Comhairle of the Dáil in 2027.
