DAVID CARROLL,
A chara, - It has been an historic election indeed, signalling the end of Civil War politics, but in a way not yet observed by many commentators as we now face the long-awaited grand coalition between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, or at least the closest we're ever going to get to it.
The implosion of Fine Gael has resulted in a mass exodus from the party.
Whether due to residual Civil War rivalries, or just plain snobbiness, the obvious option of a direct switch to Fianna Fáil was clearly still far too distasteful for the majority of those political refugees - however logical it would be, given the similarity in their political philosophies. Consequently, they sought asylum in what must now effectively be "Continuity Fine Gael" (the PDs), who are set to re-enter government, while "Real Fine Gael" is left to wither away in the new Rainbow Opposition.
I predict that the final stage of this transition should take place in the not too distant future when "Real Fine Gael" will further fragment into "Official Fine Gael" (no doubt a few stubborn county councillors in Foxrock and Termonfeckin), with the rest joining one or other of the Government parties, or Labour, depending on their ideology (or lack thereof). Hence, the changeover to the European model of a left-right political system will be complete, and Ruairí Quinn will get his way at last! - Is mise,
DAVID CARROLL,
Castle Gate,
Dublin 2.
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Sir, - As someone who might have been a natural supporter of Fine Gael, but am not, I have to say the party has a major problem with its political alignment, philosophy and core beliefs. I have long been thoroughly confused about what FG actually stands for. In spite of all the great things that Garret FitzGerald did for his country and party, in my view he did Fine Gael no favours in leading the party into its long, and ultimately fruitless, Iliad towards the left of Irish politics.
To me, and I suspect to many of its natural constituency, Fine Gael is simply not credible as a party of the left. Its historical roots are not on the left; neither is the bulk of its membership, to whom the leadership's increasingly desperate attempts to out-do Fianna Fáil in Santa Claus politics appeared opportunistic, cynical and exploitative. A party that loses contact with its roots is highly vulnerable and Fine Gael's disastrous showing can be partly traced to this.
I believe that many of Fine Gael's supporters on the centre-right finally lost patience with this unprincipled leftward drift. Fine Gael has to decide where it stands on the political spectrum. My own opinion is that, firstly, it should eschew the left, which is becoming increasingly crowded, with Labour, the Greens, Sinn Féin, various sects of "Socialist" and a plethora of independents fighting it out for a limited audience. Let's not forget that the traditional Fianna Fáil of broad-spectrum populism also contends for the leftist vote.
I see no future for Fine Gael on the left. If FG has any serious future, it is on the centre-right. The current location of Fianna Fáil to the right of centre is unlikely to last. I expect that the next Dáil will see Fianna Fáil returning to its populist traditions with, for example, inflated public spending funded by "unfortunate but necessary" tax rises. This will be just the start of a longer trend back to the broad centrist stand that we traditionally associate with Fianna Fáil.
This leaves a gap on the centre-right that will be accentuated by demographic and economic trends. I would characterise that gap as being the "liberal opportunity". We know that liberalism in Ireland has a poor history. It's the philosophy that dare not speak its name. However, I believe that Fine Gael could readily, and successfully, fit into that liberal slot without compromising its historical mission. In combination with the Progressive Democrats and a swath of Fianna Fáil, the essence of an Irish Liberal Party can already be glimpsed. I would appeal to those with influence in Fine Gael to consider a realignment on such principles. I don't see much alternative for the party. - Yours, etc.,
Dr NORMAN STEWART,
Malahide,
Co Dublin.
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Sir, - When Michael Noonan became leader of Fine Gael he promised to "give Fine Gael back to the people". Obviously not too many people wanted it back! - Yours, etc.,
CORMAC DUGGAN,
Ballinode,
Co Monaghan.
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Sir, - Visionless, Without Purpose. - Yours, etc.,
GARY HANLON,
Broadford Crescent,
Dublin 16.
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Sir, - Áine Ní Chonaill of the Immigration Control Platform has repeatedly claimed that her views on immigration are in accord with those of a "silent majority". This majority must have been in a particularly taciturn mood last Friday, when it allowed her to be eliminated from the count in Dublin South Central with a mere 926 votes. Nor did it seem to have much to say when it allowed her colleague Ted Neville to be banished from Cork South Central with fewer than 400.
These constituencies were cynically targeted because of their relatively high concentration of immigrants, and still the support mustered by Ms Ní Chonaill's organisation was paltry. The ICP claims that its supporters are cowed into silence by a politically correct media consensus, yet a secret ballot yields fewer than 1,500 like minds in two constituencies with a total of almost 100,000 voters.
Perhaps it is time Ms Ní Chonaill abandoned her delusion of a popular mandate and accepted her status on the fringe. - Yours etc.,
PARAIC O'DONNELL,
Herbert Park,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.
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A chara, - As someone with great faith in new technology, I must register my utter dismay at the way the Government implemented the new electronic voting system in the three test constituencies last Friday.
While the actual voting booths seem to have worked well, I cannot see why, in these days of authenticated electronic data transfer and strong encryption, that modules containing the votes from each polling station had to be physically transferred to the count centre and then laboriously loaded into the computer before calculating the final result.
A single telephone line in each of the polling stations could be used to securely transmit the votes to the central computer for that constituency almost instantly. Once this data was transferred the result could be calculated within minutes. The entire process might take 10 minutes, as opposed to almost five hours on Friday!
Also, being sensitive to human considerations and the understandable concerns that have been raised, all candidates should be informed of the results some time before they are made public. The computers could also be programmed to release the results of each count sequentially with a few minutes gap between each, in order to both lessen the "guillotine" factor discussed after Friday's débâcle and to continue to provide a meaningful demonstration of how the multi-seat PR system works.
Electronic voting has the potential to simplify voting for the public, give perfectly accurate results and save taxpayers' money by eliminating the need for exhaustive human counts. I sincerely hope our new government will learn the lessons from last Friday's experience and ensure that in the next general election the electronic voting system is both efficient and properly co-ordinated. - Is misé,
CATHAL MOONEY,
Griffith Avenue,
Dublin 9.
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Sir, - Are we now seeing the emergence of the tally-ban in Ireland? - Yours, etc.,
ROBERT HOBAN,
Balheary,
Swords,
Co Dublin.