Opinion

Reforming legislation is vital, but the Minister for Justice now needs to focus on the nuts and bolts of her portfolio

Helen McEntee is far from the first justice minister to come under the cosh. It goes with the territory. Just ask Frances Fitzgerald or the likes of Nora Owen, Alan Shatter and Michael McDowell (none of whom ever held cabinet office again after their tenures in that department).

But it is the first time in her ten years in national politics that McEntee has really felt the heat. How she handles this current challenge could …