Five new Ministers of State named

The Taoiseach has sacked three junior ministers and promoted five backbenchers to the position of Minister of State.

Pat ‘The Cope’ Gallagher, Michael Ahern, and John Brown have all lost out in Brian Cowen’s reshuffle, while the Fianna Fáil TDs given new jobs this afternoon were John Maloney, Michael Finneran, Martin Mansergh, Peter Power and John Curran.