The blights of small nations

And so another week ends in Ireland with an incompetent government minister safe in his job, this time the one who referred to migrant workers as "kebabs." There is a good article by Gene Kerrigan in the Sunday Independent today (reg. req'd) which condenses the striking statis and apathy of Irish politics down to this:

Consider - Fianna Fail has 81 TDs [/MPs], the PDs have eight. Of the 89 government TDs, Bertie and Mary [PM & Deputy PM] must choose 33 for ministerial positions. That is, 37 per cent of the available TDs are expected to be of ministerial material.

The 89 government representatives are out of 166 in total -- in other words, one quarter the size of the House of Commons for a country 15 times smaller than the UK. So if you're looking for an example of a highly selective process, rising to the top of Irish politics would be the exact opposite.

As Kerrigan summarises:

... the upshot is that [the Dail is] over-laden with cute hoors who can run rings around anyone who would challenge them for their seat. It's fairly light on people with the qualities necessary to run a sweetshop, let alone a government department.

The European Union compounds this adverse selection problem by creating even more jobs for this pathetic crew to fill, so if you're wondering why we've sounded a little Euro-sceptic recently, this would be a reason. We're not sure about a club that wants to have our betters as a member. Now in fairness, this problem is not confined to the Republic. Since it's Eurovision weekend (Greece won), consider this prime piece of Euro-dorkiness from small nation Estonia when they won the contest a few years ago:

Prime Minister Mart Laar enthused: 'We demolished the Russian empire by singing; now we are not knocking on the door of Europe but will simply walk in singing.'

There's not really much else to say, but using the vast power of blogging, let us merely be the latest to suggest that what Irish politics needs is the following: slash the size of the Dail, e.g. by half, to force TDs to broaden their electoral base a bit, leave the parish pump stuff to the county councils, and get rid of most junior minister positions while they're at it.

At the European level -- well, there we think is one good argument for the Constitution, which by reducing the voting weights on small member countries, might force a bit more selectivity in European politics. In the meantime, we'll have to tolerate spectacles like Bertie Ahern being named as "European of the Year."