Madam, – So now the present administration is to be replaced by the shining knights of Fine Gael and Labour if we are to believe the opinion polls. Peace will return to happy valley as the anointed ones come to grips with the economic morass and and commence the work of reforming the Oireachtas and the state apparatus. I don’t think so.
The task of saving the State is too important to be left to self- serving politicians. Instead of demonstrating and marching to the Dáil or the GPO, the Irish public can be much more effective by using the vote to elect talented men and women from among themselves. A non-political group could be formed to implement a definite agenda. Many ordinary people would recoil from standing for election but if they could agree to sit in the Dáil for a period of say two years they could make many reforms, either by legislation or by referendum, to the Oireachtas and other State institutions.
I realise that in order to achieve these aims the group would need a majority of Dáil seats, but I believe the Irish people are so frustrated and enraged by the antics of the present Dáil membership that they could give such a group such a majority.
Where are our modern day patriots? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael need to bury their respective hatchets and form some sort of entente, if not full-scale merger. They both appeal to, and recruit from, the centre/centre-right, and their continued mutual hostility, a legacy of the Civil War, does nothing but disservice to this country.
Such dilution of many shared ideals serves only to reduce the amount of real choice for the electorate and leave the moderate vote vulnerable to extremes. This is a worry, especially when some of those who seek political mandate have a blood-soaked legacy dating from much more recently than the 1920s.
Now is no time for self-righteousness, even though anger at past mistakes and incompetence, plus historical distrust, is understandable. Dwelling on such thoughts will only further undermine the body politic, and sabotage the state at this time.
One might also suggest that much corruption and skulduggery in Irish politics stems from the sense of entitlement to rule which both FF and FG have had since the Civil War.
Let’s create an opportunity for our people to elect candidates and parties spanning the entire political spectrum and not merely continue to have irrelevant, anachronistic partisanship confuse the addressing of issues so vital to our nation. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – After its 1997 slogan “People before politics” (and we believed them) and its 2002 “A lot done – more to do” (how true!) followed by 2007’s “The Next Steps” (little did they know it was out the door); may I suggest Fianna Fáil’s 2011 slogan should be: “FFinished”. – Yours, etc,