The benefits of being in Government

28th September, 2009

The Oireachtas Research Department had an annual staff training day last Friday. They invited a number of Oireachtas representatives to speak at the event. Myself and Joe Behan TD agreed to participate.

One of the points that I made in my contribution was that the benefits of incumbency are so large I find it difficult to see how anyone ever wins an election if they are not already in government. I’ve seen a great example of this today. Gavin’s Blog (www.gavinsblog.com) has today posted the talking points that Mary Coughlan used for the Marian Finucane show after John McGuinness resigned. He received all of this through a Freedom of Information Request. It demonstrates, in some detail, the support that all government ministers receive in performing their ministerial duties.

It just shows the scale of the job ahead in the coming months.