The year was 1800, and the revolution’s blood was scarcely dry when the French were asked to approve the constitution that had made Napoleon Bonaparte the leader of their republic. Three million voted in favour, while only 1,562 voted against. Only afterwards was it known that the interior minister – Napoleon’s own brother Lucien – had connivingly doubled the tally of yes votes.

But this sleight of hand didn’t matter because the entire point of the referendum was just to make it look as though power had been handed up to Bonaparte from constituents below. He used this method three times, each an attempt to ratify a seizure of power he already owned. Historians would later give this a technical name: dictatorship by plebiscite.

Two centuries later, Taoiseach Micheál Martin departed from his script at a marine-conservation event to muse that he would like a full senior minister for the sea. As the Irish Constitution caps the Government at 15 members, a 16th would require a national referendum – which, he conceded, “probably wouldn’t be the most popular”. On that, at least, he is certainly right.

But does this really require a referendum? No. We could put a marine department into effect tomorrow by just reshuffling or rebranding existing roles; it’s only the headcount that is fixed, and the State already routes around that by creating “super junior” ministers.

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