New Irish Leader Shakes Up Cabinet

DUBLIN, Ireland —  Albert Reynolds was formally elected Irish prime minister Tuesday and immediately swept away most old-guard supporters of deposed leader Charles Haughey in one of the biggest Cabinet shake-ups in Irish political history.

Reynolds, stamping his authority speedily on the party he will lead into the next election, fired almost three-quarters of Haughey’s Cabinet after winning parliamentary confirmation on a 84-78 vote.

Only Bertie Ahern, the finance minister who backed Reynolds in the contest to be leader of the ruling Fianna Fail (Soldiers of Destiny) Party, survived among the key ministers who must grapple with record high unemployment and a mountainous national debt.

David Andrews, a Reynolds loyalist who had campaigned actively for Irish prisoners in Britain and helped secure the release of Beirut hostage Brian Keenan, took over as foreign minister from Gerry Collins.