Sir, – It seems entirely frivolous that Taoiseach Micheál Martin is considering a referendum to increase the number of full Cabinet ministers in order to appoint a full minister for maritime issues (“Taoiseach floats plan for more ministers”, Ireland, June 4th).
Firstly, it is within his gift today to appoint a minister for the marine to the Cabinet, he just has to decide which from among the existing 15 ministries he will downgrade. Or he could abolish the junior minister post and assign responsibility for the marine to one of the existing full ministers, many of whom already have responsibility for multiple departments.
Secondly, the Taoiseach could reverse changes made over recent governments and reconsolidate the Departments of Finance and of Public Expenditure into a single department. Likewise, he could consolidate the departments of Education and of Higher Education. Such moves would free up two full Cabinet positions.
A full minister with responsibility for marine and defence would seem like a very appropriate move with many synergies and shared responsibilities across these two increasingly important areas.
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The Taoiseach just needs to stop floating soft ideas and get on with making a few hard decisions to get the country’s many and real problems resolved. – Yours, etc,
FINTAN REDDY,
Castleknock,
Dublin 15.
