Sorting out the Garda truly is women’s work
The secret of Kate’s success is more than skin deep
IN THE cut and thrust of parliamentary politics, female candidates have their uses. They can be deployed at election time in the hopes that a gallery of fresh female faces will create a huggable image for a party like Sinn Féin and a guarantee that the ugly past of paramilitarism is over. Women can also be easily put down during a stormy Dáil debate when a besieged Taoiseach can think of nothing better to say about a mouthy Opposition spokeswoman like Joan Burton other than ‘to rein her in’. Alternatively, on the very rare occasion that there’s an all nighter in the chamber, you can pull a chick onto your knee for a bit of a giggle.
But occasionally a female politician gets a break. After a lifetime in politics Frances Fitzgerald was made one of the highest ranking ministers last week, a recognition of her impressive performance as Minister for Children and a vote of confidence from the Taoiseach in her cool-headed efficiency and appetite for building cross-party support.
Her promotion also created a full deck of women at the very top of the criminal justice system – a rather extraordinary situation in a country that has, until lately, been so resistant to ideas of quotas or any other measures to increase the representation of women in public life.
Frances Fitzgerald joins Noirín O’Sullivan the interim Garda Commissioner, the Chief Justice Susan Denham, the Attorney General Máire Whelan, State Pathologist Marie Cassidy and several other talented women, all at the top of their game in steering the justice system at a time of great uncertainty and upheaval.
It is tempting to view their power in the macho testosterone-fuelled world of crime and punishment as a triumph for equality, or for crashing through the glass ceiling. But it’s more than that. It’s also a victory for the style of consensus building that has been the hallmark of Ms Fitzgerald’s tenure and Commissioner O’Sullivan’s performance since she took on her temporary job.
Ms Fitzgerald won cross-party support for the potentially divisive Children’s Referendum and also established the Child and Family Agency. It will be a mark of her determination and skills at building alliances if she can introduce the long-delayed and much-diluted Legal Service Regulation Bill which Alan Shat- KATE MOSS is as mystified as anybody about how, at the ripe old age of 40, she can still shift more copies of Vogue than any other celebrity on the planet. ‘I know it’s weird though, innit?’ she shrugged. ‘Cause I don’t understand, I mean …let’s not question it.’ Aside from the fabulous cheekbones, her innate style and chameleon beauty, it’s also Mossie’s nonchalance and down-to-earth attitude that make her the greatest model of her time.
KATIE PRICE staged a magnificent comeback last week when she revealed how her new husband, Kieran, has been cheating on her with her bridesmaid. The model hotfooted it to the home of her bridesmaid to quiz her about the affair. Then, on suspecting that Kieran might also be back with an old flame, she rang the woman, April Bonas, with her accusations. It’s quite possible that Katie is still on the blower today, chasing up Kieran’s old girlfriends. Her sorrowful face is proof that it is better to do one’s matrimonial background checks before rather than after you take the plunge. ter introduced in the hopes of cutting the outrageous fees enjoyed by the legal profession.
ON replacing Martin Callinan, one of Commissioner O’Sullivan’s first statements of intent was the necessity of supporting whistleblowers. She stopped wearing her uniform – a decision that signals, we trust, the beginning of a new culture in the gardaí of a truly professional independent police force.
As far as the Guerin Report is concerned, the acting Commissioner says that she will immediately address the parts of the 336-page report that pertain to Garda culture. The crisp and businesslike approach of both women is striking. Some sections of the media wonder openly if they have the intellectual firepower for the work ahead. These commentators may fail to see that their lack of confidence in the new appointments might be directly linked to the women realising something their predecessors never did, that obstinacy and firmness of resolve are not signs of strength and intelligence but of insecurity and childishness.
If public confidence is to be restored in the Garda, then the task cannot be trusted to unyielding figures who view concessions and compromises as weakness. It must be given to people with a totally different outlook and approach.