Irish Taoiseach Brian Cowen
The General Election date has been set by an Taoiseach Brian Cowen for Friday 11th March next.
Speaking to the Dáil early this afternoon, he reassigned the portfolios left vacant by the resignation of six ministers in recent days.
In case any of our readers blinked or were distracted by the kids for a couple of minutes, the Minster for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation Batt O’Keeffe tendered his resignation from Cabinet today, Mary Harney, Dermot Ahern, Noel Dempsey and Tony Killeen gave their letters of resignation to the Taoiseach late last night, while Micheál Martin stepped down on Tuesday night following his failed revolt.
Mr Cowen did not appoint new faces to the Cabinet, stating he had reassigned the portfolios to existing members of Cabinet, because he had not wanted any additional cost to the State to be involved.
However, Green Party leader and Minister for the Environment John Gormley said this evening his party was not informed of the impending resignations and had opposed Mr Cowen’s original plan to make new ministerial appointments to the Cabinet.
He has reassigned the Department of Health and Children to Tánaiste Mary Coughlan, the justice portfolio to Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith, the portfolio on transport has been assigned to the Minister for Community and Family Affairs, Pat Carey, the defence portfolio to Minister for Social Protection Eamon Ó Cuív and Thurles native and Minister for Tourism Mary Hanafin will take over the Enterprise, Trade and Innovation brief.
A Good Definition Of Irish Politics
Speaking of being distracted by the kids and politics, reminds me of a good definition of Irish Politics I heard recently:
A 12 year old boy, watching the evening news with his dad, asks, “Dad what is politics?”
Dad, delighted that his son is taking an early interest in current affairs, said “Well son, let me try to explain it simply: I’m the breadwinner of this family, so let’s call me Capitalism at work. Your Mother, well she’s the administrator of our money, so we’ll call her the Government or Fianna Fail, who is charged with taking care of all your countries needs. You, my son, represent the ordinary everyday people. Our poorly paid Polish nanny, we’ll call her the working class population and your baby brother, we’ll call him the Future of Ireland. Now son, ponder that scenario and let me know tomorrow if you fully understand my symbolism,”
So the 12 year old boy goes off to bed thinking deeply about dad’s explanation.
Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to check on his well being. He finds that the baby has severely soiled his nappy. So the the 12 year old goes to his parent’s bedroom and finds his mother sound asleep. Not wishing to wake her, he goes to the nanny’s room. On finding the door locked, he peeks in through the keyhole and sees his father sleeping beside his nanny. Not wishing to disturb them he decides to undertake the nappy change himself.
Next morning at breakfast, the the 12 year old says to his father, “Dad, I think I understand the concept of politics now.”
The father says, “Good son, tell me in your own words what you think politics is all about.”
The 12 year old boy replies, “Well, while Capitalism is screwing the Working Class, the Government is sound asleep, the People are being ignored and the Future is in very deep shit.”
Matthew 21:16: “And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?“
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