Fine Gael ministers confirm election intentions following Varadkar move
Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar told a meeting of his party this week that he will be asking all ministers and Oireachtas committee chairs to confirm they will be running in the next election.
Fine Gael ministers have confirmed they will be running in the next general election after Tánaiste Leo Varadkar set this as a condition for a ministerial position.
However, senior Fine Gael sources have said the upcoming reshuffle will be "conservative", with those close to Mr Varadkar highlighting how difficult it would be to demote senior Cabinet ministers, given the current numbers.
It is understood that Mr Varadkar wants to get his party members on record and will use their election commitment to remove them from their positions if they announce their intention not to run in the future.
Sources have said Mr Varadkar regretted the fact that he had allowed former junior minister Jim Daly to remain on in his position after he announced that he would not be running in the 2020 elections and now feels that he should instead have re-filled the role to give a running TD exposure ahead of the national poll.
Mr Varadkar told a meeting of his party this week that he will be asking all senior and junior ministers as well as current Oireachtas committee chairs to confirm they will be running in the next general election, before he makes appointments in Saturday's reshuffle.
Spokespeople for Cabinet ministers Helen McEntee, Heather Humphreys, and Simon Harris have confirmed they will be standing for re-election.
Asked about this in September, Simon Coveney said there was no question of him not running in Cork South Central.
It has been widely speculated that Mr Coveney will be moved out of the Department of Foreign Affairs to allow Micheál Martin to take up the position, which would mean a move to the business portfolio for the Fine Gael TD.
It is understood, however, that Mr Coveney has been pushing to retain the defence element of his current brief as he would like to continue on with this work.
However, a senior Fine Gael source said this will be entirely up to Mr Martin.
A spokesperson for Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said he has stated repeatedly that he is committed to Irish politics and intends to run in the next general election.
However, another senior Fine Gael source said: "Paschal is the big question mark, I'd say. Can't see him going again."
Another junior minister said: "I don't expect any of our ministers not to contest the next election but it'd be standard practice to expect one to flag it with the leader if they decided not to."
One Fine Gael minister suggested the remarks were not aimed at ministers but instead the current chairs of Oireachtas committees, pointing to the fact that Mr Varadkar suggested at the meeting that the committee chairs will be looked at in January, which was seen as giving hope to backbenchers that these positions may shift.
When asked, Junior Minister Josepha Madigan told the that "of course" she will be running, while Peter Burke, Martin Hayden, and Patrick O'Donovan also confirmed they will stand in the next election.
Frankie Feighan said: "I definitely intend to run in the next general election."
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