Irish Examiner view: Criticism of Coalition will continue

The percentage of women among ministers of state is just 23% — The new administration can expect plenty more criticism on this front

Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris with their ministers of State outside Government Buildings. Women make up 20% of the full Cabinet and 26% of the total number of ministers of state. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA

Ministers of state were unveiled yesterday at Government Buildings, the new appointees lining up for a photo opportunity with the Taoiseach and Tánaiste.

This is an event which inevitably takes place in the shadow of the announcement of the full Cabinet, but this year’s version had some added intrigue.

For instance, the fallout from Storm Éowyn has centred on parts of the country feeling neglected and forgotten — western counties battered by the storm are likely to pay very close attention to the number of their local TDs who were promoted yesterday.

On a separate track, criticism of the full Cabinet revealed last week was sharp, with opposition politicians quickly finding a chink in the Government defences. Of the 19 Cabinet attendees announced last week just five were women: The two chief whips and three female senior ministers, the latter number a reduction from the four in the previous Cabinet.

Little wonder Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore hit a bull’s eye when pointing out that there were “as many Jameses as there are women” in the Cabinet.

There are more women among the 23 ministers of state, but are six names any great improvement on last week’s total? Women make up 20% of the full Cabinet and 26% of the total number of ministers of state. Is that an adequate proportion in an Ireland where gender balance and representation are serious commitments for many organisations?

The percentage of women among ministers of state is just 23%. Compare that to the percentage of women on boards of sports bodies in Ireland, a figure which stood at 48% as of last November, according to Sport Ireland.

A funded sports body which does not meet the target of at least 40% female board members cannot draw down all its funding until that target is met. Yet the Government itself, which set that target for other organisations, cannot even approach reaching that minimum achievement.

The new administration can expect plenty more criticism on this front.

Trump's overhaul in unprecedented territory 

It may prove an overused term in time, but Donald Trump’s actions this week mean America is in unprecedented territory once again.

The US president wishes to reshape America’s government and civil service, so his administration offered approximately 2m government employees the option to resign in the next week and continue being paid up to the end of September. Those employees got an email this week entitled ‘Fork In The Road’ outlining the offer, which they can avail of by emailing the word ‘resign’ in reply.

Mr Trump’s motivation for this could be explained as a traditional aim of his Republican party, which has long espoused a belief in smaller federal government. A smaller government might also be a more efficient one, and Mr Trump and his allies claim that this move has the potential to slash hundreds of millions of dollars from the US budget.

On the other hand, questions have already been asked about the basic legality of this step; nominally the resignation offer is voluntary, but it is accompanied by a warning — that federal employees who do not resign cannot be guaranteed that they will retain their jobs.

Doubts have also been expressed about the guarantee of payment if workers resign from their jobs. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia warned federal workers not to do so, saying Mr Trump had “no authority to make that offer. There’s no budget line item to pay people who are not showing up for work. If you accept that offer and resign, he’ll stiff you.”

This proposed evisceration of state services would cause chaos across the US. Though the resignation offer has not been extended to military personnel, postal workers, and certain other employees, many necessary government services would clearly be compromised if large numbers of federal employees resign.

This scheme is seriously misguided and wilfully ignores the fact that the state is obliged to provide certain services to the citizenry. It can only be a matter of time before some useful idiot proposes similar measures here.

Brushing up a masterpiece

Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, perhaps the most famous painting in the world, has long been one of the great attractions in the Louvre, but just how enjoyable is the experience of seeing the painting?

There were 8.7m visitors to the Louvre last year alone, and most of them seem to be congregated in front of the ‘Mona Lisa’ at any given time — a hurried glimpse through smartphones held high is the best one can hope for.

Little wonder that the museum’s director recently acknowledged that its facilities were below international standard, and that visits were not easy and involved long waits — while the building itself is in poor shape, with leaks and poor temperature controls.

Accordingly, the Louvre is to undergo a significant renovation, its first in decades. On Tuesday, the French president Emmanuel Macron outlined some of the measures involved while standing in front of the ‘Mona Lisa’, and he specified that the painting would have its own “special space” in the
reconfigured museum.

Mr Macron also said the cost of the renovation would be carried by the museum’s own resources rather than French taxpayers — though he added that next year, visitors to the museum from non-EU countries would pay a higher entrance fee.

Maybe the famously enigmatic smile is a visual commentary on Brexit.

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