Taoiseach Varadkar Announces New Cabinet

Newly elected Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has announced his new government, re-appointing a number of TDs to continue working within their Departments.

The full list of appointments include:

• Frances Fitzgerald – Department of Enterprise & Innovation

• Paschal Donohoe – Department of Finance and Department of Public Expenditure & Reform

• Richard Bruton – Department of Education & Skills

• Simon Coveney – Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade

• Charles Flanagan – Department of Justice & Equality

• Heather Humphreys – A new Department of Culture

• Simon Harris – Department of Health

• Michael Creed – Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine

• Denis Naughten – Department of Communications, Climate Action & Environment

• Shane Ross – Department of the Transport, Tourism & Sport

• Katherine Zappone – Department of Children & Youth Affairs

• Michael Ring – A new Department of Community & Rural Affairs

• Regina Doherty – Department of Employment & Social Protection

• Eoghan Murphy – Department of Housing, Planning & Local Government

Commenting on his reappointment, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, said: "I am honoured and humbled to have been reappointed as Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine by the new Taoiseach and I thank him sincerely for his trust in me. I have been privileged to serve in this Department over the past year and have strived to meet the significant challenges facing farm families, fishing communities, and the agri-food sector as a whole.

"I am confident that the foundations I have laid and the relationships I have developed, since my initial appointment as Minister, will stand me in good stead as we face in to the commencement of the Brexit negotiation process. On this special day for me personally, I wish to reiterate my unrelenting commitment to serving all involved in our agri-food and fisheries sector from primary producers to worldwide exporters."

(MH/LM)