Lessons rarely learned from political patronage mistakes

Politics is one of those professions where its players rarely learn from mistakes – and the ill-fated appointment of Katherine Zappone to a UN envoy role is the latest in a long string of political appointments to come under the broad term of cronyism.

Few things raise the ire of the public more yet politicians – who always take the path of least resistance – cannot prevent themselves from carrying on the grand tradition.

The practice was widespread in Irish society until the last decade or two when increasing media, and public, scrutiny acted as a chilling effect.

Up until the 1990s, it was not uncommon for friends or patrons of senior politicians (usually in power) to be appointed to plum positions on boards, or for jobs in law, or the guards, or in the public service.

There’s an argument that suggests it’s necessary for the Government of the day to be involved in these processes.

If you look at the Supreme Court in the US, the appointment process is nakedly political. Those arguing for that will say removing it completely from the political sphere can be counterproductive and does not concur with the realities and complexities of life.

Leaving it to the judiciary themselves, or to a board composed of a mixture of lay and legal people, does not remove politics from it. It just transfers it over to a different type of politics.

There was a custom built up over the years that the Attorney General of the day could be appointed to the judiciary if he or she wished, when the Government of the day came to an end.

The A-G’s job is of course a political appointment. Indeed, until the Director of Public Prosecutions office was created in 1973, the A-G was also responsible for all prosecutions.

That practice has been criticised in recent years. Máire Whelan was appointed Attorney General by the Coalition government of 2011 and was seen as a Labour appointment.

However, she stayed on under Fine Gael taoiseach Enda Kenny when the government changed in 2014. When she retired from the position a year later she was appointed to the Court of Appeal.

The same happened when her successor Séamus Woulfe was appointed to the Supreme Court, but this time it gave rise to a great deal of controversy.

Read Harry McGee’s column in full, in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now – or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie