Ministers of State of the 31st Dáil

This is a list of Ministers of State of the 31st Dáil. On 9 March 2011, the 29th Government of Ireland was nominated by Dáil Éireann on the advice of the Taoiseach, and then appointed by the President. The Fine Gael–Labour Party coalition was led by the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny.

On that day Kenny announced to the Dáil that he would appoint Paul Kehoe, TD to the post of Minister for State at the Department of the Taoiseach with special responsibility as Government Chief Whip and Minister of State at the Department of Defence. Willie Penrose, TD was appointed on the same date to the position of Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. On 10 March 2011, 13 other Ministerial appointments were announced.^[1]

Ministers of State of the 29th Government (10 March 2011 – 6 May 2016)

Name	Office	Department(s)	Party		Term
Paul Kehoe	Government Chief Whip	Taoiseach		Fine Gael	2011–16
	Minister of State for Defence	Defence
Willie Penrose	Minister of State for Housing and Planning	Environment, Community and Local Government		Labour Party	2011
Dinny McGinley	Minister of State for Gaeltacht Affairs	Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht		Fine Gael	2011–14
Róisín Shortall	Minister of State for Primary Care	Health		Labour Party	2011–12
John Perry	Minister of State for Small Business	Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation		Fine Gael	2011–14
Michael Ring	Minister of State for Tourism and Sport	Transport, Tourism and Sport		Fine Gael	2011–16
Jan O'Sullivan	Minister of State for Trade and Development	Foreign Affairs and Trade		Labour Party	2011
Kathleen Lynch	Minister of State for Disability, Equality and Mental Health	Justice and Equality Health		Labour Party	2011–14
Fergus O'Dowd	Minister of State for the NewERA Project[2]	Environment, Community and Local Government Communications, Energy and Natural Resources		Fine Gael	2011–14
Brian Hayes	Minister of State at the Department of Finance for Public Service Reform and the Office of Public Works	Public Expenditure and Reform Finance		Fine Gael	2011–14
Shane McEntee	Minister of State for Food, Horticulture and Food Safety	Agriculture, Food and the Marine		Fine Gael	2011–12
Lucinda Creighton	Minister of State for European Affairs	Taoiseach Foreign Affairs and Trade		Fine Gael	2011–12
Seán Sherlock	Minister of State for Research and Innovation	Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Education and Skills		Labour Party	2011–14
Ciarán Cannon	Minister of State for Training and Skills	Education and Skills		Fine Gael	2011–14
Alan Kelly	Minister of State for Public and Commuter Transport	Transport, Tourism and Sport		Labour Party	2011–14
20 December 2011 Changes following the resignation of Willie Penrose on 15 November 2011
Jan O'Sullivan	Minister of State for Housing and Planning	Environment, Community and Local Government		Labour Party	2011–14
Joe Costello	Minister of State for Trade and Development	Foreign Affairs and Trade		Labour Party	2011–14
26 September 2012 Change following the resignation of Róisín Shortall on 26 September 2012
Alex White	Minister of State for Primary Care	Health		Labour Party	2012–14
5 June 2013 Change following the death of Shane McEntee on 21 December 2012
Tom Hayes	Minister of State for Food, Horticulture and Food Safety	Agriculture, Food and the Marine		Fine Gael	2013–16
12 July 2013 Change following the resignation of Lucinda Creighton on 11 July 2012
Paschal Donohoe	Minister of State for European Affairs	Taoiseach Foreign Affairs and Trade		Fine Gael	2013–14
15 July 2014 Change following the cabinet reshuffle in July 2014[3]
Ged Nash	Minister of State for Business and Employment	Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation		Labour Party	2014–16
Jimmy Deenihan	Minister of State for the Diaspora	Taoiseach Foreign Affairs and Trade		Fine Gael	2014–16
Kathleen Lynch	Minister of State for Primary Care, Mental Health and Disability	Health		Labour Party	2014–16
Seán Sherlock	Minister of State for Overseas Development Assistance, Trade Promotion and North/South Cooperation	Foreign Affairs and Trade		Labour Party	2014–16
Damien English	Minister of State for Skills, Research and Innovation	Education and Skills Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation		Fine Gael	2014–16
Joe McHugh	Minister of State for Gaeltacht Affairs and Natural Resources	Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Communications, Energy and Natural Resources		Fine Gael	2014–16
Paudie Coffey	Minister of State for Housing, Planning and Co-ordination of the Construction 2020 Strategy	Environment, Community and Local Government		Fine Gael	2014–16
Simon Harris	Minister of State for the Office of Public Works, Public Procurement and International Banking	Finance Public Expenditure and Reform Taoiseach		Fine Gael	2014–16
Kevin Humphreys	Minister of State for Employment, Community and Social Support	Social Protection		Labour Party	2014–16
Dara Murphy	Minister of State for European Affairs and Data Protection	Taoiseach Foreign Affairs and Trade		Fine Gael	2014–16
Aodhán Ó Ríordáin	Minister of State for New Communities, Culture and Equality	Justice and Equality Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht		Labour Party	2014–16
Ann Phelan	Minister of State for Rural Economic Development and Rural Transport	Agriculture, Food and the Marine Transport, Tourism and Sport		Labour Party	2014–16

See also

• Minister of State
• Members of the 31st Dáil
• Government of the 31st Dáil

References

1. "Government appoints Ministers of State". MerrionStreet.ie. 10 March 2011.
2. Government economic stimulus plan
3. "Simon Harris among new Ministers of State". RTÉ News. 15 July 2014.

External links

• List of Ministers of State – Department of the Taoiseach