The Tánaiste and soon to be Taoiseach again Leo Varadkar was giving nothing away about the upcoming cabinet reshuffle at the Agromek show in Denmark last week.

When questioned, he insisted there have been “no discussions yet between the parties” on who will get what job when he and Micheál Martin swap places. On the agriculture portfolio, he would only say: “We [Fine Gael] haven’t sought any portfolio that we don’t currently have, but any discussion on swapping department briefs would have to happen among the party leaders and it hasn’t as yet.”

Nonetheless, he said he was happy with the job that Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has done to date.

“I didn’t know Charlie well at all two and a half years ago, but I got to work with him very closely. Very solid minister, a difficult job for a first-time minister but I think he’s done it well,” was the Tánaiste’s commendation.