Sir, – Congratulations to Holly Cairns TD, who is to be the new leader of the Social Democrats .
However, what remains a puzzle is the necessity to have two left-of-centre political parties in the jurisdiction where both parties have similar low single-digit electorate support. A merger of the talents of both parties could result in a merged party playing a pivotal role in the formation of the next government. A possible name for this merged entity that springs to mind is the Social Democratic and Labour Party, abbreviated to the SDLP.
This merged entity could then give consideration to merging with a sister party in the North, thus forming one party serving the island of Ireland.
Perhaps all this makes too much sense. – Yours, etc,
Your top stories on Friday: Warnings issued as Storm Bert set to batter Ireland; the false election promises being made to under-40s
Johnny Watterson: Conor Niland’s The Racket is a seminal book in the sports genre
Ballsbridge mews formerly home to Irish musician for €1.95m
‘I could have gone to California. At this rate, I probably would have raised about half a billion dollars’
PAUL WALSH,
Skerries,
Co Dublin.