Same old faces too long at the Cabinet table

SO this is Mr Cowen, the taoiseach who was going to be different in the mould of Lemass.

He had to fill two vacancies in his Cabinet and he did just that. He kept on all the others. Does he think that shuffling the pack will make any difference, for example, moving Martin Cullen, the evoting expert, from one department to another.

Mr Cowen said in the Dáil, while shamefully defending Bertie Ahern, that “loyalty is a virtue”. He still believes that — loyalty to those same ministers Bertie appointed and who have been around for too long. If this is a harbinger of things to come, it is not good. Loyalty to the party, not creating any enemies and minding one’s back ... these are the only thing that matters, it seems.

Mr Cowen also did not promote any minister who expressed reservations about Ahern’s anointing of him last year, and who might have ran themselves — the likes of Dermot Ahern, Noel Dempsey, Mary Hanafin, Micheál Martin. Most were moved sideways.

Brendan Cafferty

Creggs Road

Ballina

Co Mayo