junior ministers sacked.

DrumSteve

"The Taoiseach is dropping seven TDs from the junior ministerial ranks, it was confirmed this afternoon, as the new line-up of 15 Ministers of State appeared for an official photocall at Leinster House.

Brian Cowen has also appointed two new faces from the backbenches as part of his plan to reduce the number of junior ministers from 20.

On their way out are Mary Wallace, Maire Hoctor, Noel Ahern, Jimmy Devins, Sean Power, John McGuiness and Michael Kitt.

In come Dara Calleary from Mayo and Aine Brady in Kildare North. "

No surprise to hoctor going... and two new faeces come in too which is good to see.:pac:

Mena

DrumSteve wrote: »

two new faeces come in too which is good to see.:pac:

Freudian slip?

DrumSteve

hell no i meant that haha

ynotdu

Mena wrote: »

Freudian slip?

lol Mena thats what i thought about OP until i scrolled down to your reply:)

mike65

DrumSteve wrote: »

"
On their way out are Mary Wallace, Maire Hoctor, Noel Ahern, Jimmy Devins, Sean Power, John McGuiness and Michael Kitt.

A right roll call of non-entities.

One good thing - Beverly (Cooper) Flynn didn't get her way.

Liam Byrne

DrumSteve wrote: »

On their way out are Mary Wallace, Maire Hoctor, Noel Ahern, Jimmy Devins, Sean Power, John McGuiness and Michael Kitt.

On their way out with €53,000 of our money each, apparently.....

Have you seen anyone in private companies being told they've a change in status and a pay cut due to the environment being given a €53,000 pay-off ? :mad:

I dunno what planet Cowen is on, but he deserves a MASSIVE kick up the arse at this stage.....

Trampas

why do we have junior minsters?

or is it just a case of jobs for the boys/girls?

Sand

Jobs for the boys of course. Cowens biggest problem wasnt finding 15 competent people in his party ( always a non runner), it was covering all the regions and fiefdoms to keep all the factions in his party happy that they had their share of the spoils.

Hagar

Ah sure it's a big trough, plenty to get the snout into.

leeroybrown

From the government's point of view they're largely useful for electoral appeasement in certain constituencies/regions, balancing internal party factions and balancing responsibility (i.e. minister count) in multi-party coalitions.

For me the primary advantage of them would appear to be that they should make it easier for competent younger politicians to prove that they're ready to take on senior governmental roles. If the number of women elected to the Dáil began to increase significantly I'd also suggest that we'd see a large number of women in these positions early in their political careers too.

Hagar

leeroybrown wrote: »

competent younger politicians

I was with you up to there, then it all started to get surreal.

Darragh29

The problem with this government isn't the Junior Ministers, it's the Taoiseach for a start who has landed us in this mess with his previous fiscal policy as Minister for Finance over the last number of years, his Tanaiste who appears to be about as clueless and useless as a person could possibly be, and his Minister for Finance who hasn't a starting chance of dealing with the banks.

What we need is a general election, not some shabby reshuffle con act. Do us all a favour Cowen and take a trip down to the Phoenix Park and ask Mary to relieve you and your cabinet of clowns of their responsibilities.

leeroybrown

Hagar wrote: »

I was with you up to there, then it all started to get surreal.

I gotta admit that it's more of an aspirational advantage based on the way that the junior ministries are currently allocated. That, and my use of 'competent' and 'younger'. We often struggle to find either...