On the RTE Radio News at One today when asked about the view that the two female cabinet ministers were given stereotypically female posts Ruairi Quinn said.
This is one of those kind of questions that you can’t win either way. Women know more about children because they spend more time with them.
I rest my case. (For the moment).
On Tuesday night I wrote a post in preparation for the new Cabinet. Well one member of it. I had it nearly finished and saved ready to go after the announcement.
After the annoucement of the members of the cabinet today I didn’t publish it and thought about trashing it.
But there it is for some of you to laugh at and maybe some of you to agree with. I think and hope Joan Burton will make a great Minister for Social Protection. I don’t know what happened to prevent her being appointed to an economic portfolio. But I have a few ideas why. Lots of people despair at the number of women in politics and public life but nobody seems willing to do anything about it. And the Labour Party, the men in the Labour Party have shown that they are first in the do nothing queue.
Can I just say (yes I went there!) how pleased I am to see Joan Burton appointed as a senior Minister and one of the Ministers for Finance in the new cabinet. I have known her for over 20 years and have admired her tenacity and patience and genuine interest in people and ideas and not herself, but for the past two years that admiration has grown. Her stubborness and dedication to telling it like it is and pointing out the flaws of the policy of the last government was immense. She sought advice, talked to people at home and abroad, found out information on the bail out, led the opposition to it and tried to explain to everyone what was going on.
The spinning against her in recent months has been very obvious and the muscling in by some men in the Labour Party has also not gone unnoticed by many. I am sure I will not agree with many of the decisions she or her colleagues will make in the years to come but she is a strong passionate, intelligent woman who as Olivia O’Leary said yesterday sometimes gets it wrong. The difference is that Joan seems to get a lot more stick for doing the wrong thing than many men and has had to face a lot of unnamed sexism in opposition. There are far too few women in the new Dáil and only three women in Cabinet.
It’s a good day today to see a feminist appointed to the Cabinet. There will be horrible days ahead but for today I want to say well done and good luck.
(Link to Olivia O’Leary diary on Drive Time http://www.rte.ie/podcasts/2011/pc/pod-v-4m53s080311drivetime-pid0-293496.mp3 )
Congratulations to everyone on their election. I’m forward to lots of changes and much more action and plain speaking in the Dail.
That large majority is going to be strange enough. It is going to be very difficult to manage it and also to show TD’s actually doing something other than reading pre-prepared scripted speeches.
Some wishes
Other suggestions? (See I did not use the word reform once!) Pages 18 and 19 of the Programme for Government have more inforrmation on the proposals from the new government.
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Given that Fine Gael and Labour had the most extensive commitments in the area of disability in their manifestos, it is no surprise that the Programme for Government section on the subject was extensive enough.
The commitment to put the standards on Residential settings for people with disabilities on a statutory footing and ensure inspections by HIQA is long overdue. I note that it is proposed that HIQA will also be given responsiblity for setting standards and inspecting Home Care services for older people – as many of these service providers provide similar services for people with disabilities I assume that these will be extended here also. I also hope people with disabilities will be to the fore in setting the standards and supported to see them enforced.
There is a heavy legislative programme contained in the document, things will really have to change in the Oireachtas if it’s going to be implemented. The legislative record of the previous government was appalling in terms of the number of bills passed/enacted. The Mental Capacity Bill has been drafted for debate for over two years – get on with it!
Next to see how they organise the Departments and who they give the jobs to. Maybe we’ll see a new disability movement independent of vested interests and the ‘sector’ form to seek change on a rights basis. Then again ‘the sector’ are busy organising.
People with Disabilities
We will ensure that the quality of life of people with disabilities is enhanced and that resources allocated reach the people who need them. To achieve this, we will reform the delivery of public services to bring about back office savings that will protect front line services.
We will also facilitate people with disabilities in achieving a greater level of participation in employment, training and education.
We will publish, following wide consultation, a realistic implementation plan for the National Disability Strategy, including sectoral plans with achievable timescales and targets within available resources. We will ensure whole-of-government involvement and monitoring of the Strategy, in partnership with the disability sector.
We will seek to get best value for money for investment in services and to ensure that services meet the needs of users. A Comprehensive Spending Review will examine all provision for people with disabilities with a view to determining how users can get the best services. We will also ensure that money spent on disability services under the National Disability Strategy is clearly laid out and audited.
As part of this Review we will move a proportion of public spending to a personal budget model so that people with disabilities or their families have the flexibility to make choices that suit their needs best. Personal budgets also introduce greater transparency and efficiency in funding services.
We will put the National Standards for Residential Services for People with Disabilities on a statutory footing and ensure that services are inspected by the Health Information and Quality Authority.
We will examine different mechanisms to promote the recognition of Irish Sign Language.We will reform the law on mental capacity to ensure the greatest degree of autonomy for people with itellectual disabilities or suffering with mental illnesses in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
In planning legislation, we will promote and support universal design whereby all environments can be used to the greatest extent possible by all people, regardless of age, ability or disability.
From Enda Kenny’s weekly email to FG members tonight
I know the Irish people are weary. They have been lead down a path of despair and desolation in recent years that was not of their own making.
I am acutely aware of the untold and unjustified suffering so many have endured, and continue to endure, through absolutely no fault of their own.
I am also aware of the genuine frustration felt by many at being kept in the dark on issues of national importance by the previous Government. This will no longer be the case.
We will not be able to rectify the mistakes of the past overnight, but I promise you one thing now, and that is that I will lead the most open and hardworking Government in the history of this State, a Government acting with urgency and a sense of responsibility, always keeping the interests of the Irish people at its heart.