Monitoring our ministers

END-OF-YEAR performance reports on each Cabinet minister will be made public after they are individually called into the Taoiseach’s office to explain what they have achieved to date.

Enda Kenny said he wanted to make it “perfectly clear to ministers” that they should prove their worth at the Cabinet table before he publishes his ratings on each of them in March — one year into the Coalition’s term.

However, he refused to repeat his pre-election promise to sack any minister who is not up to scratch or failing to deliver on their duties.

Last May, the Taoiseach told the Late Late Show that he was keeping “report cards” on every minister’s performance, based on whether they were fulfilling commitments in the Programme for Government.

He later came under pressure to publish the score cards but told the Dáil in July that he would not do so, saying it was only a way of “keeping a close eye” on ministers.

However, Mr Kenny confirmed yesterday that he would have a “fulsome report for the media by the end of March”. They will not be in the form of “report cards”, but will show “in an accessible fashion” which parts of the Programme for Government have been implemented.

“You’ll be able to see what every minister has actually achieved in their individual departments,” he said. “Rather than just the document of the Programme for Government, it will be translating that into actionable points.”

He has set up an office in his own department, at no extra cost, to examine what is being delivered, and ministers were getting “adequate notice” of “some straight talking” about “getting on with business”.

Mr Kenny will meet them in January to discuss their work to date: “I’ll sit down with them and say, ‘Look, here is your list. We’re going to have a full report made public at the end of March and I want to see you making your case on why you are measuring up to your responsibilities’.”

The Taoiseach said he wanted to show that ministers were not “messing around” and that they “get on with it” and implement pre-election promises.

“If there’s a reason why work isn’t ongoing, I want to know it. And if there’s an issue that can’t be dealt with, I want to know the reasons behind that.”

He said he believed his Government had made a “solid start” to its work and to rebuilding the country but that he was “all too conscious of the scale of the challenge ahead and the distance we have to travel”.

In a meeting with the media as he celebrated his first Christmas as Taoiseach, Mr Kenny said the relationship between Fine Gael and Labour was “very strong, very practical, very committed” nine months into their term.

In a Christmas message posted on merrionstreet.ie, he said we were living through “extraordinary times and times we thought we would never see”.

He accepted that this Christmas would be a “tough one for everybody”, with anxiety, sadness, loss and Christmas messages being delivered over the phone.

“Yes, we’re having to make decisions that no Irish Government imagined itself having to make. We’re doing it because we’re determined to get back our economic sovereignty, determined to get Ireland back on its feet.”

He also wished families a “happy, peaceful and hopeful Christmas”.

Picture: Taoiseach Enda Kenny with Brother Kevin Crowley from the Capuchin Day centre, Smithfield Dublin as he arrived at the centre to meet with some homeless people.