DUBLIN (Reuters) – Irish Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney said on Tuesday he would not serve in the next cabinet, clearing the way for Simon Harris to make a wider reshuffle of his Fine Gael team of ministers when he is confirmed as prime minister next week.
Harris was elected unopposed to succeed Leo Varadkar as leader of the governing Fine Gael party on March 24 and will be voted in as Ireland’s youngest ever prime minister when parliament next sits on April 9.
Coveney, a former deputy prime minister who made his name in the foreign affairs brief when Ireland was at the centre of Britain’s prolonged negotiations to leave the European Union, has sat at cabinet since 2011.
“Last night I spoke to Simon Harris to inform him that I would not be making myself available to serve in cabinet when the Dail (parliament) resumes next week,” Coveney said on the social network X.
“I want other people to experience what it’s like to be in government,” he added in an interview with national broadcaster RTE.
Fine Gael has seven of the 18 seats at cabinet, limiting Harris’ options to refresh his team with a major reshuffle, although he can now replace both Coveney and Varadkar, who has also been in the cabinet for the last 13 years.
Coveney said he was not going to rush a decision on whether to contest the next election, due within a year. Around one-third of Fine Gael’s sitting lawmakers have said they will not seek re-election, far more than any other party.
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Kate Holton)
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