UK vs IRE: Collective Ministerial Responsibility

Collective Ministerial Responsibility- What is it?

• a convention by which govt ministers must all publicly agree with, and be held responsible for, the actions of the government

• ministers can disagree with a measure privately, but once the decision is made by PM/Taoiseach, they must publicly support it

• provides a united front for the media and public

CMR in Ireland

• Difficult to maintain
  • as coalitions are the norm and the parties have different views, it would be impossible to constrain them in such a way
  • ministers hold loyalty to their party leader first and formost, and the Taoiseach second
  • this is also due in part to the localistic culture of the Irish political system: ministers will also pick what their constituents want so as to get reelected, even if this is not what the government agrees on
• Taoiseach's powers of patronage are limited as the Taoiseach cannot remove ministers of another party (but can reshuffle)
• Repurcussions for breaches of CMR and rarely seen
  • would risk stability of the already rickety govt
  • small pool of talent

Collective Ministerial Responsibility in UK

• Much more easily implemented
• Single-party govts much easier to control
• Provides a united front to media and public
• PM's patronage powers are alive and kicking
• Can be waived in instances (typically controversial matters)
  • 3rd Heathrow runway
  • Brexit 
• 2010-15 Coalition was an anomaly
• in cases where it is politicaly advantageous, CMR can be ignored
  • eg. Theresa May kept Boris Johnson in her cab when he spoke out against her- would have been more dangerous to have him outside cab