Taoiseach VS Primer Minister

TAOISEACH VS. PRIME MINISTER

1 (a). Irish Taoisigi have much less control over their cabinets than their British counterparts. Discuss with reference to appropriate examples.

The Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister are the most senior ministers of the cabinet in the executive branch of Government. They and their cabinets are accountable for all policies and actions to Parliament/Oireachtas, their political parties and the Irish/British citizens. They have the highest political authority in Ireland and Britain, lead the major political party and command a majority in the House of Commons/Dail. The current British Prime Minister is Conservative party leader, David Cameron, while the current Taoiseach is Fine Gael party leader, Enda Kenny.

The Taoiseach and British Prime Minister both have to power to appoint, promote, demote and dismiss ministers to their cabinets, which gives them a great amount of control as they will appoint those individuals who have demonstrated great party loyalty to them (patronage) and for those cabinet members who aren't up to scratch, they can also be dismissed by the Prime Minister/Taoiseach or reshuffled to another position, which is most likely to be at a lower level. For example in in 1991, Taoiseach, Charles Haughey dismissed Reynolds and Flynn for failing to back his leadership and in 1992 Reynolds did the same as he refused to appoint Haughey supporters to his cbainet.

It has been argued that the Prime Minister and Taoiseach surround themselves with 'yes men and women' (those who simply accept the wishes of the Prime Minister/Taoiseach and rarely get involved in robust discussions at cabinet meetings i.e. Blairs Babes and Cowens Cronies) and this yet again gives them more control

However, unlike the British Prime Minister who appoints 20-23 cabinet members, it is stated in the Irish Constitution that the Taoiseach can only appoint 7-15 cabinet ministers, that the Tanaiste(Deputy Prime Minister) and the Minister for Finance must be members of the Dail, all Ministers must be members of the Oireachtas and a maximum of two Ministers can be appointed from the Seanad. Therefore the British Prime Minister has more control over choosing this cabinet than the Taoiseach as he does not have these limitations to obey by.

However, Ireland and Britain are both currently in coalition ...

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However, unlike the British Prime Minister who appoints 20-23 cabinet members, it is stated in the Irish Constitution that the Taoiseach can only appoint 7-15 cabinet ministers, that the Tanaiste(Deputy Prime Minister) and the Minister for Finance must be members of the Dail, all Ministers must be members of the Oireachtas and a maximum of two Ministers can be appointed from the Seanad. Therefore the British Prime Minister has more control over choosing this cabinet than the Taoiseach as he does not have these limitations to obey by.

However, Ireland and Britain are both currently in coalition governments and this has a huge impact on the Taoiseachs and Prime Ministers control over their cabinets. For example the current Irish Cabinet is lead by Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, however his party is in a coalition government with the Labour party as in the 2011 election they were unable to achieve the overall majority by winning less than 84 seats.

Fine Gael had won 76 seats in the 2011 election, while Labour had won 37, therefore together they were able to achieve the overall majority with 113 seats. In the current Irish cabinet there are ten Fine Gael Ministers, Five Labour Ministers and one super Junior Minister (who cannot vote during cabinet meetings), therefore the Taoiseachs power of appointment is restricted even further as his coalition partners will also be able to make ministerial nominations e.g. 2002 Harney as Tanaiste and 2007 McDowell as Minister of Justice. This means the Taoiseach will not always get his way as he will have to enter negotiations and compromises with his coalition partners. However the power of the coalition partner will depend on the size of their TD representation, e.g. in 2002 PD's had 8 TD's in the Dail, therefore they were able to get 2 Ministers into the cabinet.

Other limitations to the Taoiseachs power to appoint Ministers include the fact that it is an obligation now to have female ministers in the cabinet, this yet again constraints the Taoiseachs power on choosing his own cabinet (the current cabinet has two female ministers, Labour minister for social protection, Joan Burton and Fine Gael minister for children, Frances Fitzgerald), this limits the pool of ministerial talent in which the Taoiseach can choose from. It is also encouraged for Ministers in the Cabinet to come from all over the island of Ireland (rural, non-rural, east, west etc.), however this it not reflected in the current cabinet as nine out of the fifteen ministers are from or close by the Dublin area and there are no ministers from Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan.

While coalition governments in Ireland are common and the last clear cut single party administration was in 1977 (Fianna Fail) they are less common in Britain. The current coalition between the Conservative party and the Liberal Democrats is the first British coalition government from 1940-1945 which occurred due to the Second World War (the 'grand' coalition).

The current British cabinet is lead by Prime Minister and Conservative party leader, David Cameron, his party is in a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats as in the 2010 election they were unable to achieve the overall majority by winning less than 326 seats.

The Conservative party had won 306 seats in the 2010 election, while the Liberal Democrats had won 57, therefore together they were able to achieve the overall majority with 363 seats. In the current British cabinet there are 18 Conservative Ministers and 5 Liberal Democrat Ministers, therefore like the Taoiseach the Prime Ministers power of appointment is restricted as his coalition partner will also be able to make ministerial nominations, however 1/3 of the Irish cabinet is made up of the coalition partners ministerial nominations, while the British cabinet is made up with under 1/4, meaning Prime Minister David Cameron has more control over his cabinet than Taoiseach Enda Kenny as over three quarters of his cabinet are from his own political party. However, Labour ministers in the current Irish cabinet have higher positions than the Liberal Democrats in the British cabinet.

The main limitation to the Taoiseachs/Prime Ministers control over their cabinet is the fact that their control and power comes from the party in which they represent, meaning if the Prime Minister/Taoiseach loses support from his party or coalition partners his position could become very weak. Even though the potential for a cabinet revolt is historically rare as politicians are unlikely to 'bite the hand that feeds them' they are not impossible, for example Geoffrey Howe, a former cabinet colleague of Thatchers, started the process that lead to an effective revolt against her style of leadership and her ultimate resignation as Prime Minister in 1990.

However, the Taoiseachs/Prime Ministers position is most definitely weaker when they are in a coalition government as the potential for a cabinet revolt increases greatly as there are two different parties with different policies and methods working together in Government, i.e. Vince Cable and Chris Hunhe in the current Lib Dem – Conservative coalition government.

For example in January 2011, Taoiseach at the time Brain Cowen decided to to put down a motion of confidence in his leadership during Fianna Fails parliamentary party meeting and this was to be decided by a secret ballot. Foreign Minister, Micheal Martin publicly announced he would vote against the motion, effectively presenting himself as a challenger to Cowens leadership, this lead to Martins resignation and the following day three more Fianna Fail and one independent minister were forced to resign to 'reshuffle the cabinet' so Cowen could strengthen his parties position for the election. However the Greens whom were a part of the coalition government refused to acknowledge the replacements and were angry as they were not informed by Cowen about the cabinet reshuffle and this ultimately lead to the collapse of the 2007 – 2011 coalition government.

“Trust between the coalition parties had been greatly eroded, perhaps irreparably” - John Gormley, Green Party Leader.

Faced with the collapse of his collation and a rebellion within this own party, Cowen announced on the 22nd January he would be resigning as the leader of Fianna Fail after the 2011 election took place.

Overall the British Prime Minister currently has more control over his cabinet than the Taoiseach as the decline of party loyalties in Ireland have lead to an erosion of the Taoiseachs power (the civil war is not longer the issue that it used to be and voting is more instrumental). However, as Britain is currently in a coalition government, the Prime Minister does not have the same amount of power and control over his cabinet as his predecessors.

Taoiseach VS Primer Minister

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