Government departments re-named

Six months into the new government taking office, a comprehensive transfer of functions has taken place across the public sector, giving effect to the re-naming of a number of government departments.

The transfer of function of government departments took place between 1 June 2025 and 5 June 2025, under the statutory mechanism of section 6 of the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 1939.

Subsections 6(1)(c) and 6(1)(d) of the Act enable the Government to transfer functions from one minister or department to another by utilising the Transfer of Functions Order mechanism, while subsections 6(1)(a) and 6(1)(b) authorise the Government to change the name and title of ministers and departments, also by order.
In spite of pre-election speculation that a new ‘department of infrastructure’ could be created and a new ‘department of home affairs’, no new departments have been created by the Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael-Regional Independent government. However nine of the 18 departments have had transfers of functions and names. These are:

• Department of Children, Disability and Equality, formerly the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
• Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment, formerly the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
• Department of Culture, Communications and Sport, formerly the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
• Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, formerly the Department of Foreign Affairs
• Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, formerly the Department of Justice
• Department of Education and Youth, formerly the Department of Education
• Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, formerly the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment
• Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Services, Reform and Digitalisation, formerly the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
• Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, formerly the Department of Rural and Community Development

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine; Department of Defence; Department of Finance; Department of Health; Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science; Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage; Department of Social Protection; Department of the Taoiseach; and Department of Transport all maintain their names and broad functions from the previous government term.