Sir, – Merit has never really been the deciding factor in the selection of our cabinets; internal jockeying, seat-buttressing and even geographical balance have meant that far too often we have seen worthy TDs languish silently on the back-benches while far less qualified TDs are thrown the reins of power.
The Taoiseach's commitment to a gender-balanced cabinet, without knowing what percentage of female TDs will be returned after the next election, may guarantee a far less able cabinet than heretofore existed ("Taoiseach wants equal number of men and women in next cabinet", December 26th).
A taoiseach is already constrained by the need to ensure regional representation in cabinet; the addition of the need to balance gender, coupled with the fact that only government TDs are likely to be appointed, means that the talent pool from which half the cabinet will be selected will be unthinkably small. At the last election, the Irish people elected a Dáil that was just 15 per cent female; cut out Opposition TDs, and this means that 50 per cent of the cabinet places would have been limited to about 9 per cent of TDs.
Ministers wield real power, have a real effect on Irish life and have the ability to do great good or great harm to the Irish people.
It is a perpetual stain on Irish political life that such positions are all too often treated as gifts, or as sinecures which must be allocated to certain constituencies, regardless of the particular ability or merit of those elected therein.
The artificial restriction of the talent pool for ministers, so as to effectively exclude the majority of the elected representatives of the Irish people, much as some might disagree with the electorate’s choices, is a decision which only serves once again to minimise the importance of competent and able ministers, and the importance of competence and merit generally throughout Irish political life. – Yours, etc,
STEPHEN FITZPATRICK,
Foxrock,
Dublin 18.