Sir, - There are many people inside and outside politics who will note with considerable interest the remarks by Noel Dempsey TD supported by Mairin Quill TD last weekend regarding the electoral system of this country, and reported by you today (January 13th).
They are not, of course, the first politicians. to call for a change. Rank and file TDs and party leaders have put their heads above the parapet on this issue from time to time, and have retreated when massive apathy and internal political resistance greeted their intervention.
I congratulate Noel Dempsey for his forthright statement, and note that he may well be an important central figure in government after this year's election. Mairin Quill may also be part of a new government.
It is upon this question - the courage and political will to give Ireland a new electoral system - that a great deal of our future success depends. Quality of government in the next millennium is an essential. The present electoral system is directly inimical to good government, in that it imposes a range of activity and obsession on politicians which is ludicrous.
Political parties are uncomfortably aware that they simply can no longer attract candidates of calibre, since the lifestyle is so appalling and so frustrating, requiring women and men, including government ministers, to spend most of their time in pursuing trivia at local level and trying to outdo opponents of their own and opposing parties.
I hope that these remarks by Noel Dempsey and Mairin Quill: are not another flash in the pan, but will be taken up and debated seriously. I suggest a special high level committee, working outside the Dail, to examine and report on, the Irish system and to make recommendations for a new, fair, and modern electoral system. - Yours, etc.,
29 Temple Road,
Dublin 6.