Forming the next Irish Government - policies and personalities

Hypocrisy and speaking out of both sides of their mouths is par for the course when it comes to the shinners.

Take a look at their completely opposite stances on SSM in the North and down here, as a prime example. The dictionary definition of populism.

Lowry must have told them they must have a cabinet meeting this week, so all can be reported back to him to see how he feels ahead of the Dail resuming next week

The idea that the Dáil has no impact on what local authorities and a semi state body do is a bit bizarre tbh.

If either is reneging on their responsibility then the Dáil needs to know and act on that.

Back to this Dail talk again. You do know the Dail is not the Government?

What legislation could the Dail pass this week, to help the situation…?

It's not the ministers that are capped, it's the ministries (i.e. Departments) that are capped. AFAIK, the purpose of the cap is to stop a party from artificially inflating the number of required ministries to provide 'jobs for the boys'. If SF were elected and immediately created a load of wishy-washy Departments so they could then appoint 35 new ministers, there'd be uproar. And rightly so.

The accusations have been made that the govt sat on their hands re: calling in help (a function of government not opposition brw) and the Taoiseach is wrong to say you must wait for the event to happen.

Well, first of all, shouldn't local councillors be recalling their local councils first to address the issue of what councillors should be doing, shouldn't they?

Oh, I forgot, this isn't about accountability, this is about social media profile for SF TDs. Silly me, thinking it was about getting answers from those responsible.

P.S. Who are EI and what have they got to do with cutting of trees?

Your exceptionalism is off tilt again.

Labour, SD's SF, Independents etc have all called for a recall of the Dáil. They want to perform their duty as an opposition even if some folk think they are a nuisance or irrelevant.

As winter is not over and another event could occur we need to know via the government depts (who are ultimately responsible for the functioning of local government and state agencies on a nationwide basis) what can be done now and in the short term to avoid the failures.
It is only an unreasonable request if you have something to fear from that functioning of the Dáil.

P.S. Apologies, I should have said ESB Networks.

More important that the local councils are convened so that we can show that our local democracy is working.

Gavan Reilly has answered this on X.

The Government noted the intention, subject to the necessary amendments being made to the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1977 to nominate the following persons to be appointed as Ministers of State:

 

Timmy Dooley TD

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with special responsibility for Fisheries and at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications with special responsibility for the Marine

 

Colm Brophy TD

Minister of State at the Department of Justice with special responsibility for Migration

 

Marian Harkin TD

Minister of State at the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science with special responsibility for Further Education, Apprenticeship, Construction and Climate Skills

So the legislative priority of the government will be to facilitate jobs for the boys/girls. I don't recall seeing that in an election leaflet or manifesto

Has Stormont sat since the storm?

Have the MLA's been given their time in the sun?

Recalling the Dáil means Committees can function too.
And if you are saying questions have never been asked about Local Government and State Agencies on the floor of the Chamber then I think you are wrong or mis-representing.

Here is a random Oireachtas TV clip from their FB page of a Minister being asked questions on the running of her Dept. Normal Dáil activity.

Dáil Éireann - 5 April 2022 | #OireachtasTV - Watch LIVE coverage from the #Dáil as Parliamentary Questions to the Minister for Rural and Community Development are taken - view on... | By Houses of the Oireachtas | Facebook

Gary Murphy of DCU said today that the amount of super junior ministers is "dodgy".

Your central thesis is the issue here. You're assuming that a job would be given to the best candidate by virtue of aptitude or qualification, therefore if gender quotas actually change the makeup of government then we must be choosing worse candidates.

There are an ocean of research papers analysing aspects of gender imbalance and they all tilt the same way - men get more and do less. Phrased another way - men prefer hiring men even if they're less qualified than a woman. Men prefer promoting men even if they're less qualified than a female candidate. How could this happen in a pure meritocracy? Well, it can't. We're not in a meritocracy. So, while we remain measurably poor in terms of hiring the most qualified person, when that person happens to be a woman, gender quotas can force the issue and result in better candidates (overall) ending up getting the job.

Jennifer Whitmore wanted the State to nationalise RIP.ie a few weeks ago.

She has zero credibility on issue.