CHILDREN’S MINISTER RODERIC O’Gorman will not propose any shake ups to Cabinet if he wins the Green Party leadership contest.

Except if there is “a very strong reason”, he told The Journal this week. 

O’Gorman and Minister of State Senator Pippa Hackett are both contesting to be the next leader of the Green Party.

On Thursday they answered questions from delegates on their vision for the party, with a second husting due to take place on Sunday.

When asked by The Journal if he would he remain as Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he becomes leader and would Eamon Ryan remain Minister for Transport and Climate? 

“Barring a very strong reason, I wouldn’t be looking to make major changes across our ministerial offerings,” O’Gorman said.

He added that he is not proposing that he move out of his own department as there are still some “major pieces of work to get done”. 

Among these, ratifying the optional protocol to the UN CRPD, extending the national childcare scheme to child minders and increasing provisions for children with disabilities.

“So I’m not planning on that on going anywhere,” he said.

Despite O’Gorman arguing that the coalition has worked well, almost all of his time at the helm of the Department of Integration has been spent responding to crisis after crisis. 

This week, over 2,100 asylum seekers are without accommodation in the state and many have been forced to pitch tents on the streets of Dublin City which are then later removed and dumped by Government agencies. 

Barricades now stretch along much of the Grand Canal to prevent tents from being erected, with Waterways Ireland saying this week they are likely to be in place until October and that the organisation is trying to “redesign” the area to prevents tents being pitched in the future. 

When it was put to O’Gorman that none of this, which is happening on his watch, aligns with the vision he has outlined for his leadership of the Green Party, his response was:

“I’ve been very clear, where we’re not able to accommodate people. That’s a failure. That’s a failure by the state. But we are taking steps and very significant steps to address that.”

He added that in the last six weeks over 1,000 unaccommodated male international protection seekers have been offered accommodation. 

“The problem with the system as I inherited it, was it is entirely based on commercial accommodation, and I’m redesigning it but I’m having to do that in real-time,” O’Gorman said.

Members will vote online from 4-7 July. The results announced on Monday 8 July.