Hopes had been high that John Cregan, known to be a personal friend of Mr Cowen, would be promoted in Tuesday's reshuffle.

However, the only Limerick deputy to benefit was Limerick East TD Peter Power, who was appointed as Minister of State with responsibility for overseas aid.

The news means that the Limerick West constituency has now gone 16 years without a Government representative.

Fianna Fail county councillor Francis Foley said that west Limerick had been let down by the new Taoiseach. "I definitely think we've been passed over," he said.

"Fianna Fail has a very strong and active organisation in West Limerick, and we've provided a lot of manpower over the years including our current two TDs. John Cregan, in particular, has done a lot of work here down through the years and being honest about it, we felt let down when he wasn't given a position."

Numerous attempts were made this Wednesday to contact Mr Cregan and his party colleague Niall Collins, but both were unavailable for comment before the Limerick Leader went to press.

For more see Limerick Leader County Edition