Quotas for women? Shure, we wouldn't be able to move for all the knittin'!

There’s a funny mood in the country. Fianna Fail are doing badly in the polls, people are taking pay cuts, and we are generally willing to consider things we would never have considered before. Property tax, water charges, income tax rises, all things that during the Tiger Years we’d never have dreamed of. From Brian Cowen’s persepective, there is almost nothing popular he can now do. It’s all going to be bad news.

So here’s a thought. Why not pick one of those social issues that doesn’t actually cost us anything to implement, but will cause such an uproar in the country so as to divide the opposition, indeed the country, along lines different from current Government Vs. Everybody Else situation we have at present.

What issue? Gay marriage and legalised prostitution are not mainstream enough, and will cause a backlash. But what about, say, the issue of euthanasia and living wills? Sure, the Catholic Church will go bananas, but it is one of those issues that even conservative older people have surprising views on. Start with a commission to examine the whole issue, to report back in a year with a recommendation for a referendum.

If euthanasia is too “spicy”, there’s always the simple issue of quotas for women. A referendum to change the voting system to ensure that every constituency elects at least one person from each sex.

Be a fun day out, surely?