New Irish prime minister vows to create Ireland that works

Mar 9, 2011, 18:27 GMT

Newly elected Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny (L) after receiving his seal of office from Irish President Mary McAleese in Dublin, Ireland, 09 March 2011. EPA/AIDAN CRAWLEY

Dublin - Ireland's newly-elected prime minister, Enda Kenny, vowed to 'reinvent Ireland' and 'create a new Ireland that works,' as he unveiled his new cabinet Wednesday.

Fine Gael leader Kenny, elected by a huge majority of 117 votes to 27 as the new parliament met for the first time, said he felt 'deep gratitude and deep humility for the honour' of leading Ireland into a new future.

'This current crisis is the darkest hour before the dawn,' he said.

'We are a people looking to the possibilities of a new day. That new day is here where there is no gap between people and government,' he said, urging Ireland to 'hang out its brightest colours.'

Kenny heads a coalition government with the centre-left Labour after leading his centre-right party to an historic election victory on February 25.

An angry electorate threw the dominant Fianna Fail party out of power after its mismanagement of Ireland's fiscal and banking crises led to an European Union and International Monetary Fund bailout worth 85 billion dollars last November.

Fianna Fail, which had ruled Ireland uninterruptedly for decades, now holds just 20 seats in the new parliament, down from 78.

With the Fine Gael and Labour coalition holding 113 seats in the 166-seat parliament, Kenny's government has a record majority in the Irish parliament.

The 59-year-old former schoolteacher has only once served as a cabinet minister, heading the ministry of tourism and trade from 1994 to 1997.

After receiving his seal of office from the president, Kenny announced his cabinet, with 10 Fine Gael members and five Labour members.

Labour party leader Eamon Gilmore was named deputy prime minister (Tanaiste) and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, while Fine Gael veteran Michael Noonan was given the key post of finance minister and Labour's Brendan Howlin was given the newly created post of minister for public expenditure and reform.

Labour's Joan Bruton, who had been tipped for one of the finance portfolios, was named Minister for Social Protection.

The new government is expected to deliver quickly on its pre- election pledge to tackle Ireland's economic crisis, including the renegotiation of the bailout deal.

The terms of the deal are considered to be discouraging growth and job creation in Ireland, which is undergoing the worst economic crisis in its history.

Kenny is expected to press for the interest rate to be cut from its current level of 5.8 per cent at a Friday meeting of euro zone leaders.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso offered the new prime minister his 'warmest congratulations' Wednesday, wishing Kenny 'every success in one of the most challenging times in recent Irish history.'

'I am looking forward to working with you ... to help your government steer Ireland out of the current crisis and back on the path to recovery and sustainable growth,' he said.

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