There are a number of government reshuffles to catch up with. Because I am short of time today, I will record the one that is easiest for me.

In Ireland there was a reshuffle on 23 March. It had been provoked by a number of ministerial resignations, including the Defence Minister, Willie O’Dea, and the Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism, Martin Cullen. A Green Junior Minister had also previously resigned.

The real news about the reshuffle was that it changed very little. This was a surprise because the Fianna Fáil party, which is the dominant party in the coalition with the Greens, is extremely unpopular with opinion poll ratings at historically low levels at around 25% support. So, there was the expectation that the Taoiseach (PM), Brian Cowen, would not just introduce some new faces, but also that he would reorganise the departmental structures to address the country’s desperate financial situation, including increasingly high levels of unemployment. However, this did not happen and he was criticised accordingly.

There is a report on the reshuffle via the Irish Times here and a commentary piece about the conservative nature of Cowen’s leadership as exemplified by the reshuffle here.