Coveney: Right man for a difficult job

In the Taoiseach’s mini-reshuffle Cork’s Simon Coveney is almost the perfect fit. He’s on familiar territory in Cork — opening a hospital’s orthopaedic and spine centre — today, when he can be sure of a warm welcome home.

Coveney’s promotion will revive Fine Gael’s flagging grass roots support, something that has to be done quickly if — and when — there is another crack in the thin ice on which Leo Varadkar’s administration treads.

He brings experience, skills and gravity to the higher reaches of government and in his continuing role as foreign minister we can be sure that he will hold the line he has established in Brexit negotiations with Britain and the European Union.

The surprise elevation of Josepha Madigan — who has yet to clock up two full years in the Dáil — to the Culture ministry shows that the Taoiseach is not lacking in imagination. A woman with little time for political correctness, she is championing a further relaxation of the divorce laws, and fighting to bring social media within the scope of contempt of court rules.

Under proposed legislation, companies which do not remove posts that could prejudice criminal trials will face unlimited fines. That is welcome, but even better would be legislation that punished such posts in the first place. Twitter, Facebook and the rest would then be in no doubt that the law regards them as publishers and not, as they plead, mere platforms.