Should we adopt the American system of appointing Ministers

A

asdf

Guest
Over the past few months now when the pressure has really come on the government the minsters have shown some serious inadequacies, rabbits caught in the headlights comes to mind. Would it be better if we change the appointment of minsters to a system they have in America. The Taoiseach appoints people who can actually do the job!!

I mean there are plenty of professors of economics in our universities who have written books and books about about economic policy and are more than capable of being the Minster of Finance. The problem at the moment is we have people in these Ministries who don't have a clue about what they are doing and are running the county off cheat sheets, with the buzz words they are to say in interviews and in the Dail. They are more concerned about getting re-elected then actually getting the job done. Heres a brief list of the major ministers we have at the moment

Minster of Health - Mary Harney, -BA in Modern Studies, 32 years in politics
Minster of Education - Batt OKeeffe, BA in something, 24 years in politics
Minister of Finance - Brian Lenihan, Barrister, 12 years in politics
Minster for Enterprise, Trade and Employment - Mary Coughlan - BA in social Science, 22 years in politics

We need to get experts in these posts NOW.

Forget about politicians, leave them at what they know best, kissing babies, sorting out potholes, getting a new bus route for the new estate, leave the serious stuff to the experts !!!!!
 
there is an equal need to ensure the roles of the financial regulator & central bank are filled by suitably qualified professionals rather than career civil servants.
 
I suggest we have an election whereby the whole country votes for the leader they want. So it would be Cowen v. Kenny v. Gilmore v. Adams etc
We then reduce the TDs to 100.
If FG get 35% they get 35 seats, if FF get 22% they get 22 seats etc. etc. and so on.

So say Kenny got 35% of the vote. He would pick himself and the best 34 politicians/advisors he could find to run the country (with Labour)

Less politicians looking after their own corner and more who know that they need to look after the country or they are out of a job.
 
Good post, VOR

Our trouble is we have local gombe.. erm, I mean politicians, looking out for local, parochial interests, in a national parliament. They're there because they genuinely have local backing (they did get the votes) but probably also because they will "look after" their local area. Hardly the stuff of making decisions in the national interest!

Solution: 1. keep these "local" people at local level (let them compete with local councillors to represent their area) 2. elect a party, not individuals, based on policies, not personalities. 3. allow the party leadership to choose experienced people with a good track record to run the departments for a set period, one term with no re-appointment, to implement these policies in the most effective way they know. They can listen to and evaluate the advice of civil servants and others but also have the qualifications, training, experience and power to act.

Which government ministers are qualified to run their departments? Ministers should have qualifications and experience in their departmental area - anything else is amateur.
 
So if I understand the proposals correctly, we would have a cabinet composed of unelected experts with a political boss?

I suppose the idea has merit as the as the experts are on the wings at the moment anyway with the politocos being the front-men and we're paying for both.

All we need now is a referendum to change the Constitution...
 
Caveat said:
What is this when it's at home anyway?
Click to expand...
I thought it was a misunderstanding of Trinity's slightly odd way of describing many of its primary degree qualifications as "BA (Mod)", which applies to most arts and science degrees. I am, however, somewhat nonplussed to find that official PD pages seem to have this description too.
 

Exactly - it's a BA (Moderatorship) to give it the full title - I had always thought Harney studied (Modern) History?
 
The only person in the whole bunch I could see would be suitable to run a department is Brian Lenihan, he is a barrister and lectured in Law. So the naturally the post we could put him into is into justice?!?! Ah finance is close enough sure he had to have a bank account thats experience enough, What a Joke.

Here are a few more chancers,

Minster of Transport - Noel Dempsey - BA in Career Guidance
Minster of Justice - Dermot Ahern - Solicitor
Minster of Foreign Affairs - Micheal Martin - MA in political history (teacher)
Minster of Tourism - Martin Cullen -went to WIT (cant find what he studied)sales manager for a wine company
 
This discussion is really just a small aspect of a larger issue:

Is it a good thing that our Dail is largely occupied by career politicians?

Would it be better that people go out and make careers in other areas before going into politics?

Would it be better to have at least a good handful of politicians who do not need to be elected in order to earn a living?

Unfortunately, being a politician in Ireland is a thankless job. There is very little incentive in Ireland for people who have succeeded and done well for themselves to regard politics as a way by which they might perhaps put something back.

If you were Denis O'Brien or Michael O'Leary, would you go into politics?

So we get the politicians we deserve.
 
Now looking at the recent appointments to the US ministers I actualy question if it's a good system, when tax fraud is overlooked just because someone might be the right person for the job in the eyes of the president formerly known as obama.

In our current goverment we recyle the same people over and over in different positions without a clear visibility if they are actualy qualified to do their job and relying on heavy input of their civil/public servants. I.e. I did not read that part of the report because it was not highlighted by my officals.

What we need is a term limit for the glorified county council, sorry the Dáil Éireann to avoid a "politican class" and ensure that we get fresh talent in there regulary.

What we need is people in minister posts that are actualy qualified for the job. I can remotly understand why an obese lady is put in charge of health but maybe an MD might be better. I can't understand why we have a lawyer in charge of finance, someone who has actualy been a CFO in a corporation would be a good idea (and given that a minister salary is on the same payscale that would actualy be possible0.

Insofar I agree with the concept of having ministers being interviewed by the relevant Committees of the Houses of the Oireachtas and than confirmed by the Dáil Éireann but that will only work if the members of Dáil Éireann are not the same bunch of people over and over.

We also should elect the Dáil Éireann more often, like 1/3 of them every 2 year so so to have fresh people in there and also to be nearer to the action.
 
I'm not sure that functional expertise is essential. Many corporatations are now intentionally rotating executives round different functions, so last year's marketing director is this year's operations director etc etc. It is really more about leadership than functional expertise.
 
I think an important point though is that people are being voted into a national parliament on the basis of their performance at local level, and they are two completely different things. Hence we have a load of parish pumpers making key strategic decisions for the nation as a whole. It was always wrong, but its downright dangerous at the moment.
 

Interesting point, Complainer. But, to continue the analogy, does it mean that rotating executives retain a loyalty to the branch/subsidiary they started out with? (as policitians do to their constituency). No - and this is where the commercial system differs from the political - they leave their local sphere behind and take on a wider role because they can do so. I agree on the value of leadership, but knowledge of the subject area too is surely a prerequisite?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register