The americans have this as a tradition, and it does seem from what you say that the position is somewhat removed from politics and the output is a ‘warts and all’ view of presidential life.

To try and create that from where we are now, knowing what our political system is like, would be next to impossible. Government press office would have to have a say and to think you would get candid shots of Kenny and Noonan taking another flogging from the troika or whatever it might be is highly unlikely.

Maybe im overly sceptical, but i dont think the impartial photographer can happen in ireland. It just doesnt work that way. The best you might get from a candid perspective is under the 30 year rule or the FOI act.

Also yes I do imply that the photographer should be of a standard, and he/she should be there specifically for that role (which, I guess, makes him or her a professional). The images from Souza are not images that just anyone would have taken. Documentary photography isn’t easy, and very very few excel at it. I certainly don’t. Souza does. It’s not easy because you need to anticipate things, react to things, understand a mood – all things that only come with years and years of experience. The photographer can use a smartphone or a Nikon D4 – that certainly is secondary – but the photographer’s eye in this instance is, I would argue, hugely important.

Also a key point – Souza is an impartial observer. An assistant/advisor using his phone is biased. In the case of the debt negotiations, an advisor might capture images at a time when negotiations are going the way that he agrees with. An experienced documentary photographer doesn’t bring his/her own bias to the images. They are honest accounts, as a historical record needs to be.

There is of course a question of value for money and in the current climate most people will only see €30,000 and I suspect many will assume they were vanity shots. When the questions about this were (rightly) raised in the media, the press office should immediately have (A) provided further details and (B) released sample images.

Do the Irish Government have an equivalent to Pete Souza?

The crux of your argument is that formal pictorial documentation of the life and times of the Taoiseach is something of great importance and shouldn’t be taken lightly. I agree. Where I disagree is your implication that this needs to be done by a professional photographer, you haven’t said so, but your implication is certainly that a photographer of merit needs to be on hand at all potentially important event to document the goings on. I don’t agree at all.

Take the ‘war room Bin Laden’ picture. Lets step into the parallel universe that we have never heard of Barack Obama, he remains an attorney in Chicago, and Hilary Clinton is a senior partner in the firm. The Cubs are in the world series, and the staff have crammed into the meeting room to watch the last few innings. John the trainee snapped the photo on his iphone.

Plausable right?

The photo itself has no photographic merit, its not terribly well taken, without the subtext of who the characters are and in what context they are watching a television, its actually not a very good photo at all. Its plain. Its uninteresting. Why was Mr Souza needed to take it? I could have done it if I was there? Or Monica the intern?

The issue irish people have I imagine is that professional photographers are expensive, they take photographs based on composition, lighting, contrasts, and any one of a million other factors you blog about regularly that I don’t fully understand. They are not just reporters of fact. They are artists.

Enda Kenny is surrounded by advisors, assistants, helpers and gophers, and I imagine every one of them has a smart phone in their pocket. If we need someone to document what happens in Enda’s day to day job, these people are in perfect position to capture these photo’s in a realistic setting.

The equivalent of employing a professional photographer to do the mundane work of being on hand to take pictures of enda making phonecalls and chairing meetings, is the equivalent of employing Fintan O’Toole to write court notes and Seamus Heaney to write the Dail report. You are employing an artist to do the job of a handyman.

You should probably get this link out to some of the political classes on twitter too!