Taoiseach Micheál Martin recently floated holding a referendum to amend the Constitution to increase the number of members of government. Article 28 provides as follows: “The Government shall consist of not less than seven and not more than fifteen members who shall be appointed by the President in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.”

As somebody with some experience of referendum campaigns, I think such a proposal would be defeated if put to the people and in the unlikely event it passed, seriously weaken our constitutional order.

The cabinet is a collective authority and is required to meet and act as such. The executive power of the Irish State is exercised by or on the authority of this collective authority. The government is “responsible to Dáil Éireann” and is “collectively responsible” for departments of State administered by its members.

When I served as attorney general, minister and latterly as tánaiste, I had opportunities to observe growing divergences between the realities of cabinet government in the UK and Ireland.

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