Conor Murphy’s election to the Seanad was a foregone conclusion, so much of the speculation in recent weeks however regarded his successor.
Liz Kimmins is the anointed one. She alongside Caoimhe Archibald represents a new generation of Sinn Féin minister, while also bolstering female representation in the executive and on her party’s front bench.
Previously a councillor in Newry, Mourne and Down and in the assembly since 2020, when she was co-opted into the assembly to replace Megan Fearon, the Newry and Armagh MLA has been chair of the Stormont health committee since last year’s restoration.
Beyond her committee role, in which she’s proved capable, Ms Kimmins is largely an unknown quantity, with just a handful of major media appearances to her name. She’s a social worker by profession so there’s certainly no clear line can that can be drawn between her previous experience and her new role.
And let’s be honest, infrastructure isn’t the easiest portfolio, with even a seasoned operator like John O’Dowd struggling to fulfil the role effectively.
It would’ve made more sense to hand Ms Kimmins the relatively easier economy portfolio rather than the baptism of fire that comes with overseeing the region’s ailing roads and water networks. In her inbox is a growing wastewater problem and the need to deliver the long-delayed A5 upgrade, which is now facing a fresh if not insurmountable delay.
As for her predecessor, the Upper Bann MLA moves to the relative calm of the Department of Finance, where Caoimhe Archibald has laid the much of the groundwork for the remaining two years of the mandate.
There’s potential for plenty of new initiatives to be explored in terms of revenue raising if the appetite is there but so far Sinn Féin appears reluctant to countenance anything too radical.
As for the departing finance minister, she’ll find her new home in economy not especially different from her last post, only with more photo-ops, which should help further raise Ms Archibald’s profile ahead of an expected bid for the East Derry Westminster seat.
In Conor Murphy, the executive has lost one of its most effective and experienced ministers. His tenure in the Seanad will certainly raise the profile of the Oireachtas’ upper house north of the border though whether it will achieve Sinn Féin’s stated aim of advancing the debate around a united Ireland is more moot.
