Waterford's John Cummins made Minister of State at housing dept

Waterford TD John Cummins has been appointed Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage as Taoiseach Michael Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris announced the junior minister line-up. 

The newly-elected TD was the party's Seanad spokesperson for housing in the previous government and said he is "absolutely delighted" to have responsibility for Local Government and Planning.

Speaking following the announcement Deputy John Cummins said: “I am absolutely delighted to have been appointed by Tánaiste Simon Harris and Taoiseach Michael Martin to a role which I feel I can hit the ground running on given my experience as a member of the Joint Oireachtas Committee for Housing, Local Government and Heritage over the past five years and my 11 years’ experience as a member of Waterford City and County Council.

"There is a huge amount of talent within Fine Gael with 23 new TDs bringing a wealth of new knowledge into the party and I know the Tánaiste will have given a great deal of consideration to these appointments. 

"Naturally, I am honoured to have been chosen for this role and I assured the Tánaiste I will give everything to it," the Waterford TD said.

The new Minister of State said he "was never distracted by all of the speculation that was surrounding the appointment of Ministers of State".

"Ultimately, such things are always a matter for the party leader," he said, "and while I felt I did a solid job in my capacity as one of the Fine Gael negotiators during the development of the programme for government, that doesn’t give you an entitlement to become a Minister."

Cummins, who spent the last Dáil term as a Senator, won a seat in Leinster House in the General Election in November and thanked "everyone who has assisted me throughout my political career thus far, in particular my wife Inga, my parents, our amazing team of Fine Gael councillors across the county, my supporters and the wider membership of Waterford Fine Gael, all of whom I simply couldn’t have done it without. 

"Most importantly I want to thank the people of Waterford who placed their trust in me during November’s general election. I hope this appointment demonstrates the value of my election to Dáil Éireann and I look forward to delivering for the people of Waterford."