Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There has been constant talk about the need for expertise in Cabinet. As the late Dr. Garret FitzGerald did, it is possible for a Taoiseach to pick two members of the public who have never stood for election, appoint them as part of his or her 11 nominees to the Seanad and put them straight into Cabinet. In other words, it is possible for the Taoiseach to include in his 15 members of Cabinet two members of the public who he thinks will never stand for election, either for the Seanad or the Dáil, but would add hugely to the Cabinet. It is interesting, when there has been so much debate about how great it would be to do so, that the Government is slamming the door on that possibility and making it constitutionally impossible.

I look forward to a much more detailed debate on this over the coming months. The proposal is badly thought out. I have not been persuaded by anything that has happened that anyone has come up with a way that would ensure proper scrutiny of legislation, the mundane day-to-day job that will always be the primary purpose of a Legislature.

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