Newly appointed Defence Minister and Clare TD Tony Killeen has promised to do all he can for the county in his new role around the cabinet table.
The Kilnaboy/Corofin native takes up the position left vacant by Willie O Dea as part of the Taoiseach wide-ranging reshuffle.
The last full serving minister for the county was Sile De Valera while Brendan Daly also had a brief spell as Defence Minister before the Albert Reynolds’ bloodbath.
Minister Killeen says he will be a strong voice for Clare at Cabinet and believes the people of the county will recognise his dual role.
The 57 year old is a former national school teacher who was educated at St Flannan’s College in Ennis and Limerick’s Mary Immaculate College of Education.
First elected to the Dáil in 1992, he was appointed minister of state at the department of agriculture, fisheries and food in April 2009 and given special responsibility for fisheries and food.
Among the Ministers of State, he was the leading contender for promotion to the Cabinet and his appointment as Minister for Defence had been anticipated.
He has also served as minister of state at the department of enterprise, trade and employment between 2004 and 2007. He was appointed minister of state at the department of communications, energy and natural resources, and the department of environment, heritage and local government, in June 2007.
The Defence Minister faces an immediate crisis as Defence Minister, with no new peacekeeping missions lined up for the highly trained troops of the Irish Army. Early next month most of the 230 soldiers currently serving in Kosovo and Bosnia are being withdrawn as the Irish involvement there is significantly wound down. And it is unlikely that the 410 Irish troops in Chad will be there till next year.
Mr Killeen has pledged to work to find a new peacekeeping mission for the Defence Forces.
