Quinn plans to resist Cabinet reshuffle

Education Minister Ruairí Quinn has signalled he will fight the axe in this year’s Cabinet reshuffle.

Viewed as a prime candidate for the chop when the shake-up of the top table occurs, probably in September, Mr Quinn, 67, has made it clear he is not ready to go quietly.

The minister insisted he wants to stay put until the next general election, scheduled for 2016.

“I am not ready for the chop at all. I have a big agenda. I have a lot of energy. I want to complete this project.

“I want to finish this job. I want to go the whole way,” he told RTÉ.

Mr Quinn, finance minister in the Rainbow coalition of the mid-1990s, said he was surprised to be offered the education brief by Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore and wanted to see it through.

“When Eamon Gilmore asked me when we were in opposition to take it on I was quite surprised because I had other experiences. I find it a fascinating job. I think I’ve brought a sense of energy and reform,” the minister said.

Mr Quinn’s reluctance to leave the political stage could complicate the reshuffle, expected once May’s European and local elections are out of the way, as he and Energy Minister Pat Rabbitte have been the most speculated upon casualties of a shake-up intended to bring fresher faces into the Cabinet for Labour.

Mr Quinn also made it clear he intends to fight the next general election.

“That’s my intention, if I have the health and the ambition and the energy to do it, which I currently have. Of course I will, yes,” he said.

Junior health Minister and Cork TD Kathleen Lynch is among those tipped for Cabinet elevation, partly because the 15-member body only has two women in it at present.

The reshuffle on the Fine Gael side is likely to centre on replacing Environment Minister Phil Hogan, who is widely tipped to take up Ireland’s European Commission post which becomes vacant later in the year.