LABOUR has confirmed that it will nominate Alex White for the vacant junior ministerial position at the Department of Health.

A statement issued this afternoon by Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore  said White, a TD for Dublin South, would be proposed to fill the ministerial role left by Róisín Shortall after her resignation as the Minister of State with responsibility for Primary Care.

White will be formally nominated to fill the vacancy at the next Cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning.

In his statement, Gilmore said he looked forward to working with White in his role as Minister for State “in implementing the commitments in the Programme for Government on health service reforms”.

White is currently the chairman of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform – a position he will now give up following his promotion to the ministerial ranks.

The split of Cabinet and Oireachtas positions among the government parties means Labour will now be given the right to pick a new chairperson for that committee, which is likely to be given the task of holding a full inquiry into the banking collapse next year.

White is a former member of South Dublin County Council and was elected to the Seanad in 2007 before being promoted to the Dáil in the 2011 general election. He is a senior counsel, though he has not practised as a barrister since his election to the Dáil.

In full: James Reilly’s letter to Róisín Shortall about Primary Care centres

Reaction: Burton ‘saddened’ to see Shortall go – but affirms confidence in Reilly