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Member of the new Cabinet gather for a portrait. Leon Farrell/© RollingNews.ie.
The Daily PollShould we increase the number of ministers from 15?
How many ministers does it take to run a country?
LAST WEEK, Taoiseach Micheál Martin named his new Cabinet which featured some familiar faces along with some new (and lengthy) titles.
The reason for this is that the number of ministers is limited to 15, and so senior ministers are given a few departments to manage (like Jack Chambers new role as Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation) or “super junior ministers” are brought in to try and divvy up the workload.
However former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar says this workflow is “suboptimal”.
Writing in yesterday’s Sunday Times, Varadkar said that “politicians are hamstrung by our constitution which limits the number of senior ministers to 15″.
He adds: “Perhaps it’s time to bite the bullet and amend the constitution… so we can have “dedicated senior ministers for defence, disability, culture and children.”
So today we’re asking: Should we increase the number of ministers from 15?
Poll Results:
No (5028)
Yes (1572)
Unsure (319)
have your say