Relief as plan to pillage Aer Lingus grounded

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney says pressing reforms will be dealt with in a practical way over the next two-and-a-half years.

That seems a far cry from the Hanly Report and a much more conciliatory tone than has been the case, not just from the Tánaiste, but from the Cabinet prior to the reshuffle.

No more ideologically driven agendas then? If they resurface, they could still prove the undoing of the Coalition. But the murmurings suggest a clawback from the hard neo-conservative stance driven by Mr McCreevy and Ms Harney in the previous Cabinet. In the Dáil, Bertie Ahern ruled out an MBO at Aer Lingus and Willie Walsh confessed undying loyalty to the airline, to which he has given 25 years service.