I guess the majority of listeners tuning into RTE Radio last Sunday were surprised to hear Garrett Fitzgerald dismiss Enda Kenny’s proposal for a general election to be called by Brain Cowen. It is somewhat unusual for a former party leader and Taoiseach to dismiss the suggestion and potentially undermine the credibility of the party’s present day leader but I for one believe that Garrett is putting the country first and his own party loyalty second. If only more would follow suit!

Last October bank holiday weekend when a Fianna Fail campaigner for local elections knocked on my door and asked for my opinions I told her that I would love to see the best 15 politicans get together to sort out the mess that we are in. I was told that this was unlikely to happen but I truly feel that now is the time to select the Irish Lions from our elected representatives and get the country moving again.
We are all tired with the constant point scoring and cheap shots that politicans from all sides are throwing at each other. I don’t care who is in government as long as the government of the day manges the country to the best of its abilities. The scandals that have emerged in recent months are outrageous and there seems to be scant regard for tax payers money which has been used and abused by public representatives as they see fit.

So in picking our Irish Lions, here are the 16 positions that need to be filled:

CEO
VP of Finance
VP of Health
VP of Enterprise Trade & Employment
VP of Justice Equality & Law Reform
VP of Education & Science
VP of Health & Children
VP of Transport
VP of Foreign Affairs
VP of Arts Sports & Tourism
VP of Community Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs
VP of Social & Family Affairs
VP of Defense
VP of Environment, Heritage and Local Government
VP of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources
VP of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

All these positions were initially filled after the 2007 election by the Talent Pool of Fianna Fail, Green Party and PD’s representatives. To that mix lets add the Fine Gael and Labour candidates (and Sinn Fein too) and determine the best available talent for each role. Should we have a barrister as Mimister for Finance while Richard Bruton sits on the wings and fails to get an opportunity to show his credentials and experience. He is approximately 27 years a TD and has been a minister for less than 3. Would he not grasp this opportunity to help solve the country’s pain at this present time. What about adding Enda Kenny, Ruairi Quinn, Eamon Gilmore, Joan Burton and Fergus O’Dowd amongst others to the list of available candidates from which to fill these roles.
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In this scenario we would strengthen our team considerably, everyone would have a common goal and the country should be the ultimate winner. There are thousands of people who are willing to help in whatever they they can to get the country moving again. We need leadership and not the bickering and constant cheap point scoring that seems to constantly go on. I don’t want a government minister saying he or she will do their best to bring jobs to a specific region, it is now all about the country and jobs should go to areas where there is the resources, talent, infrastructure and the ability to deliver.

So lets have you input and lets pick the Irish Lions with their CEO. I will manage the results and let you know the formation of the Irish Lions!!.

For your information the state of the parties after the last election was as follows:

Fianna Fail – 78
Fine Gael – 51
Labour – 20
Green’s 6
Sinn Fein 4
PD’s 2
Independents 5

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Every day the prospect of living abroad seems to get more and more enticing for many professionals in the Irish workplace. Our media feed us a constant stream of pessimism in stark contrast to our high performance and can do attitude that Taoiseach Brian Cowen praised at his much publicised address to the Dublin Chamber of Commerce last week.

When Cowen speaks about our can do attitude, does that mean that the current can do anything approach to business, as has been witnessed by our developers, builders and bankers to name but a few is something to be admired and indulged perhaps. Is this can do attitude typified by the actions of IL&P last September in facilitating Anglo Irish Bank produce impressive results. Or do we engage in the “hear no evil, see no evil” approach and wake up with the severance package in excess of 20 times the average national wage for a “do nothing” approach in the area that clearly requires a strong regulatory approach.

On this basis it would appear that the “do nothing” approach of the regulator seems to reap similar rewards to the “can do anything” brigade when it comes to builders, developers and bankers.

If there is any headhunt or recruitment firm who would like to deposit even €7million into the Talent Partners bank account to help us all through challenging times and “stick together” then bring it on!!!  Alternatively the government could exclusively retain Talent Partners to “do nothing” for a period of time. 

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