Sir, – As somebody who canvassed support for one of the defeated presidential candidates, I can confirm that citizens changed their voting intentions on the basis that the particular candidate had fallen in opinion polls and had no chance of winning. Those same citizens would agree that the only legitimate poll of the popularity of candidates is the one taken on voting day.
Is it not reasonable to suggest then that opinion polling is a perversion of the democratic process where knowledge of voter intention corrupts the willingness of citizens to support a particular candidate? – Yours, etc,
Sir, – To compare the Sinn Féin vote between the general and presidential elections by quoting only votes cast, while ignoring turnout, amounts to an outrageous distortion (Odran Flynn, Home News, November 2nd). It’s wrong to use statistics in this way to support what is clearly a politically motivated argument. Fact: In the general election the Sinn Féin first preference percentage vote was 9.9 per cent. In the presidential election it was 13.7 per cent. I am happy to leave it to the readers to interpret that in any way they like. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Using the logic deployed by Mike Burke (October 31st), I could with the same justification ask, “If Dana, as she claims, won the Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland, then why did she only get 2.9 per cent of the vote?”. I contend that Martin McGuinness’s 13.7 per cent reflects not on the validity of his claim to have been instrumental in bringing peace to Ireland, but rather on the importance attached to that achievement by voters in the Republic. – Yours, etc,
A chara, – The president-elect has stated that he wants to be a president for all of the people, yet on his first public appearance he has engaged in tribal triumphalism as evidenced in Galway on Sunday evening. This tribal triumphalism has been the hallmark of Irish politics. Plus ça change . . . – Is mise,
Sir, – The Irish Timeshas printed a number of letters that have made fun of one characteristic of Ireland's new president, namely his height. This is something over which he has no control.
I assume the newspaper would not print letters making fun about his skin colour if he were black.
Perhaps we should allow the man some time to settle into the job and then assess him on how well he performs the duties of president of Ireland.
If he makes a fool of himself – which is probably unlikely – then there will be plenty of time to make fun of his skills on the Letters page. – Yours, etc,