Sir, – With regard to Stephen Fitzpatrick's concerns (December 29th) that Enda Kenny's commitments on gender balance would result in the "artificial restriction of the talent pool for ministers", the experiences of the past five years ought to allay his fears ("Taoiseach wants equal number of men and women in next cabinet", December 26th).
It must now be abundantly clear that it is not Ministers who determine the rules under which we are made to live but rather the ideology of the consultants and lobbyists that prowl the corridors of power. Truth to tell, the Cabinet is peopled by those who are fed lines to speak and who stick rigidly to the message. The qualification for elevation to the cabinet is a capacity to learn lines and repeat them back. – Yours, etc,
JIM O’SULLIVAN,
Rathedmond,
Sligo.
Sir, – Stephen Fitzpatrick writes that merit has never been the deciding factor in the selection of cabinets. At least we can console ourselves with that thought.
For men, the criterion appears to rest predominantly in perceived entitlement; for women, it has too often been gender alone that has kept them sidelined.
Nonetheless, he laments what he contends to be the “artificial restriction of the talent pool” arising from gender balance imperatives and warns us that such fanciful indulgence “may guarantee a far less able cabinet than heretofore existed”. Hmm. Surely half of the electorate can and should expect a 50 per cent representation at the cabinet table? Were the gender tables turned, so to speak, imagine the kerfuffle and headlong stampede to the courts at even the merest hint of disadvantage.
Moreover, a cursory and – in this festive season – charitable assessment of our current Cabinet would surely suggest that it is our female Ministers who stand out in the midst of mostly mediocre men.
How Ireland’s political class could possibly provide the nation with less able cabinets than those they have suffered for many years now is a mystery of cosmic proportions. – Yours, etc,
PATRICIA MULKEEN,
Ballinfull, Co Sligo.
Sir, – I think we can, regrettably, file Enda Kenny’s pledge on gender balance in the next cabinet alongside his past pledges to issue report cards on Ministers, to introduce universal health insurance and to end the trolley crisis. – Yours, etc,
ELAINE O’RIORDAN,
Dublin 8.