When George Bush sat down to select his administration after finally seeing off the challenge of Al Gore, did he appoint, for example, Paul Wolfowitz, because he wanted to copperfasten his electoral base in New York, or Spencer Abraham to nail down Michigan for his reelection campaign in four years?

Of course he didn't. There may have been other forces at work . . . cynics might claim that it was Dick Cheney rather than Dubya pulling the strings . . . but you can be pretty sure that the geographic spread of his cabinet wasn't foremost in the new president's mind.

Think also of that formidable British negotiating team that Michael Collins, Arthur Griffith and Co faced during the Treaty negotiations . . . the Welsh Wizard, David Lloyd George, Lord Birkenhead (described as "one of the greatest jurists in history"), Austen Chamberlain and a certain WS Churchill. Were they chosen for cabinet duty because there was a tricky constituency to be won in Caernarvon Boroughs or Oldham? Certainly not, old boy.

Yet, in our system, it often seems that the crucial factor for a Taoiseach in selecting his cabinet and junior ministers is geography.

Getting a nice spread of ministers to maximise electoral potential is deemed crucial, as is selecting politicians who have spent a good few years toiling on the back benches.

Ability seems to be almost an afterthought (or, in the case of some of the ministerial appointments down the years, a total irrelevance).

It is not always the case, of course. There are five examples of TDs becoming ministers on their first day in Leinster House, while Garret FitzGerald even went so far as to appoint a Minister for Foreign Affairs, James Dooge, from outside the Dail.

It would also be churlish to deny that the current cabinet is not made up of some real talent. The same holds true for previous administrations, but now, as in the past, there are some politicians (who shall remain nameless) who wouldn't have got within an ass's roar of the cabinet if ability and hard work had been the main criteria.

No system is perfect. It would be naive to argue that the impressive British team for the Treaty negotiations . . .

particularly Churchill and Chamberlain . . . got where they did on merit alone. The vast majority of the population at that time could never have even dreamed of setting foot in the House of Commons. But they were unquestionably the best talent from British politics at the time, plucked from both Conservative and Liberal parties.

What if that were to happen here? Think of it.

Suspend political reality for a few moments and imagine a cabinet drawn from all sides of Dail Eireann, with no importance attached to electoral considerations, geography or time served.

The people voted Bertie Ahern as Taoiseach in the last election so, in the interests of democracy, the top job would be his. But in our fantasy government, we are free to shape the rest of the cabinet, so who else would make the cut?

Fianna Fail's numerical dominance in the current Dail means the party would inevitably command a large number of places at the cabinet table. Bertie Ahern's heir apparent, Brian Cowen.

is a shoo-in. Despite the lingering feeling that we still haven't seen the best of him, he is one of the real heavyhitters in the Dail.

Noel Dempsey deserves to make it also for being one of the few conviction politicians in the house. He is often accused of lacking political nous and guile but it is refreshing to see a politician choose a course of action because it is the right, rather than the popular, thing to do.

Brian Lenihan hasn't made it to cabinet yet and that is hard to fathom. He certainly hasn't the common touch of his father but he has an impressive intellect and is shaping up to be a formidable politician.

As is Mary Hanafin . . . a very smart, streetwise political operator and a possible first woman Taoiseach. Dermot Ahern, Seamus Brennan, John O'Donoghue and chief whip Tom Kitt have also shown that they are where they are because of merit.

On the back benches, Jim Glennon, Barry Andrews, Pat Carey, Jimmy Devins and Sean Fleming have proved they would not be out of place in a government department.

On the Fine Gael front bench, Richard Bruton is the star performer, putting up a feisty, authoritative opposition to Brian Cowen.

Enda Kenny has proved everyone wrong by turning around Fine Gael, while Fergus O'Dowd deserves enormous credit for his role in turning the spotlight on Leas Cross. Olwyn Enright and Phil Hogan have also been strong performers. But arguably the Fine Gael figure who would make the best minister of the lot is Michael Noonan. He didn't work out as party leader, but that was more to do with image than ability and he still has a lot to offer politics.

In Labour, Pat Rabbitte's talents need no introduction. He is top drawer and in our fantasy government we don't have to worry about him not wanting to sit around a cabinet table with Fianna Fail ministers.

Eamon Gilmore is competence personified, while Joan Burton has really performed as finance spokesman and deserves to be in the shake-up. Brendan Howlin and Ruairi Quinn, meanwhile, have more than held their own at the top table in the past.

Of the PDs, Mary Harney, despite her difficulties in the ministry of health, has one of the best CVs in Irish politics, while it would be simply impossible to imagine a cabinet of excellence without the unique Michael McDowell.

The Technical Group has some real quality in its ranks. Trevor Sargent would certainly transform the Department of Environment, while Eamon Ryan is one of the brightest TDs in Leinster House.

Nobody doubts Joe Higgins' ability . . . he is the best performer in Dail Eireann.

But we presume that, even in our state of suspended reality, he would politely decline the opportunity to coalesce with the counterrevolutionaries listed above.

Obviously, with only 15 places at the cabinet, it's not possible to fit all our talent around the table, but what a selection panel they would make for a fantasy government.

Between them, the ministers' parties would have 88% of the seats in the Dail so, for a change, they wouldn't have to worry about appeasing vested interests. Probably not very democratic and definitely not much of a geographic spread, but imagine what they'd get done. They might even have given Lloyd George, Churchill, Birkenhead and Chamberlain a run for their money.

Come to think of it, there is probably a better chance of them travelling back in time to 1921 than there is of them forming a coalition together.