In the Inside Politics digest from the Irish Times this morning, Pat Leahy had this to say about cabinet responsibility:
The reason there is a requirement for government to act collectively is that it defines the executive will of the state. Government isn’t a rolling seminar; its function is executive, not discursive. A cabinet must make decisions; to govern is to choose. Inevitably, in our imperfect world, those decisions will often be between unpleasant alternatives.
He’s talking about the tough life ahead of those (four?) independents with cabinet seats to get Enda a second term. Yet it can apply to the institutions in Northern Ireland, where there is little choice but to make decisions, without meaningful public discourse.
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
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