An Taoiseach Enda Kenny announced who would be taking up positions as junior ministers today in the Dáil.

Fine Gael Wicklow TD Andrew Doyle has been appointed as Minister of State for Food, Forestry and Horticulture in the Department of Agriculture.

A beef farmer himself, Doyle was Fine Gael's agriculture spokesman prior to the party's victory in the 2011 election. He then went on to become the chairman of the Oireachtas Agiculture Committee and was seen as a contender for Minister for Agriculture.

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Mayo TD Michael Ring, also from Fine Gael, will be Minister of State for Regional Economic Development within the new Department of Regional Development, Rural Affairs, Arts and the Gaeltacht. Ring was previously junior minister for tourism and sport.

Galway east independent TD Seán Canney is Minister of State for the Office of Public Works and Flood Relief. Cenney said earlier this month that he would share the portfolio inrotation with Kevin Boxer Moran, the Longford-Westmeath independent TD who ran on a flooding action platform around his base in Athlone.

The 15 new junior ministers are from Fine Gael as well as independents who support the Government.