Ministerial circus becomes a drag

■ We have witnessed over the last five days what only can be described as a circus.

The Taoiseach and the leader of Fianna Fáil have been in constant contact over the revelations that have been drip-fed from the Department of Justice on a daily basis, so that on day five the former justice minister handed in her resignation.

To complete the circus, as Fine Gael has a track record of appointing people who are not members of the Dáil to ministerial positions, as it did in the case of James Dooge, who was foreign affairs minister from October 1981 to March 1982, it should now appoint Simon Coveney as Tánaiste and business, enterprise and innovation minister, and replace Mr Coveney with the much-travelled Panti Bliss, as foreign affairs and trade minister.

Hugh Duffy Cleggan, Co Galway