Madam, – While many parties are focusing on electoral reform in this election not one mentions “electorate reform”. Perhaps we should examine the poor performance of the electorate in recent years and consider radical overhaul of who we allow to vote? Let’s face it, we are as bad an electorate as the politicians we put in. I wonder what would happen if the electorate was made up only of people who did not vote for the incumbent Government in the previous election? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – You published a letter by Lucinda Creighton attacking the trade union movement and myself in particular (February 22nd).
Her Fine Gael party insists on attributing equal blame to workers and their trade unions, along with bankers and developers, for the economic collapse. This is unfair, but there is a much more important consideration. Such scapegoating results in flawed policy making, to the detriment of everyone in Ireland.
The net foreign debt of our banks rose from the equivalent of 10 per cent of GDP in 2003 to 60 per cent in 2008, through borrowing short abroad, principally for speculative investment in property. This inflated our economy by an average of twice the public capital programme for each of these years – thus creating the bubble. In the inflationary environment it generated we negotiated pay increases to maintain workers’ living standards and ensure they at least shared in the “prosperity”.
When the bubble burst and the froth subsided, our banks found themselves “beached”. The Government then granted them the most extensive credit guarantee ever awarded by any country in the developed world (with the full support of the Fine Gael party), thus socialising the private debt that had been recklessly accumulated. Therein lies the cause of the crisis out of which the next government must navigate a course. Scapegoating workers and their trade unions will not help.
Continuous vilification will not help either. I have never served on any State board and I have repeatedly made it clear that I never will. No serving officer of our trade union pockets one cent in respect of service on any public body. Indeed, as of 2009, our rule book specifically precludes it. I have never been paid €130,000 per annum and, like many others, we have taken pay cuts. Moreover, our pension provision has been reduced by approximately 35 per cent, well in excess of most, and we can never look forward to anything remotely approaching the index-linked pension to which Ms Creighton is entitled. The union never received the monies which are at issue in the “HSE” controversy. Nevertheless we are approaching completion of a thorough investigation of the allegations and we will be publishing the report.
We will not emerge from the current crisis through exacerbating divisions in our society. The next administration must unite the country rather than divide it. This is why we need a fair and balanced government that can command a clear majority of the electorate instead of single party monopoly rule. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Judging from her rather intemperate letter (February 21st), Deputy Lucinda Creighton seems to believe that all the country’s ills can be laid at the door of social partnership. I find it interesting that the other main advocate of this theory is Brian Lenihan, the outgoing Minister for Finance.
I can only say that I wish this was the case. Because if it were true that Ireland was shut out of the bond markets and then forced into the arms of the IMF due to worries about our education or welfare spend, then our problems would now be solved and the crisis would be over.
But that hasn’t happened. If anything, the crisis has deepened, which would tend to suggest that the source lies elsewhere. The most recent analysis from the Brussels-based Robert Schumann Foundation puts it thus: “Ireland’s problem is very different from that of Greece. In Athens the bankruptcy of the State and of public finances brought down the banks; in Ireland it was the banks and the private sector that brought down public finance.” It is worth noting that this analysis is shared by a large number of international commentators, ranging across the political spectrum.
Included in that number are some very non-union voices such as the FinancialTimes and the Confederation of British Industry.
But if Deputy Creighton wishes to cling to her view – which is entirely her right – she should remember that trade unions were but one component of the social partnership process. Also at the table were the employers groups, farming bodies, the construction industry, the community and voluntary sector, and the Government.
Otherwise, attacks on “social partnership” are little more than code for an attack on trade unions and their role in social dialogue. Judging by his most recent comments, I would also suggest that her views are at odds with those of her party leader, Deputy Enda Kenny. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Are the candidates running for office ignoring the Ferns, Ryan, and Murphy Reports and their collective indictment of this nation’s treatment of its children? It is a serious question, asked in light of the scant attention afforded the issue of church-State relations over the course of the campaign.
And, even as the economic agenda dominates the political debate, we ask whether the incoming government will complete the unfinished work of making right the abuses suffered by women and children in residential and other institutions? Simply put, does the financial crisis veto all other social and political concerns for the foreseeable future?
Before heading to the polls on Friday, we think it important to remind the electorate of the June 2009 all-party Dáil motion pledging to “cherish all of the children of the nation equally”. Were we not meant to understand by that motion that the neglect of vulnerable and/or socially marginalised children was a thing of the past? The Murphy report was published in November 2009, and one year later its full import was realised with the publication of excised material detailing the heinous abuses perpetrated by Fr Tony Walsh.
The Cloyne Diocese report will be published later this spring, in the first months of the new government. Will our political leaders have the courage finally to hold the Catholic Church accountable for past abuses, and in doing so prioritise the rights of survivors?
In November 2010, the Irish Human Rights Commission found sufficient evidence of significant human rights violations in the nation’s Magdalene laundries to recommend that the Government institute a statutory inquiry.
The outgoing Government refused to act, referring the assessment document to the Attorney General’s office for review. No action was taken. Again, our political leaders failed the most vulnerable of our citizens. In the final days of this campaign, we ask for whom does the political system work in this country?
Whoever is elected to office on Friday, our political leaders must demonstrate the political will to address the unfinished business of our nation’s past – the business of church-State collusion and complicity in the abuse of tens of thousands of our citizens. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – My heart goes out to Jean McConville’s family, especially Helen McKendry who has single-handily organised a strong campaign against Gerry Adams, who is putting himself up for election. Every right-minded person will be 100 per cent behind Ms McKendry, whose mother was taken away and tortured and murdered by the IRA. Shame on the men and women of violence. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Blaming Fianna Fáil for the economic woes of our nation is similar to blaming the crowing rooster for the sun rising in the morning. Every segment of Irish society – from labour unions to opposition parties to the public – supported the rush to the trough to gorge themselves in the “free money” that was circulating throughout our society. The entire nation was and is at fault. Certainly two economists pointed out the coming crisis in their writings but these people did nothing to organise opposition to the policies being advocated and supported by the public other than the occasional speech or column. Incidentally, I come from a strong Fine Gael background but will be voting Fianna Fáil in the upcoming election proudly for the first time in my life. Unbiased historians will record Brian Cowen and Brian Lenihan as statesmen rather than politicians. Politicians are concerned about their own immediate election – statesmen are concerned about the next generation. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Surely in these days of instant communication it should be possible to facilitate the many would-be voters who have been forced to leave Ireland in search of work and those who travel for reasons of work. Is it essential that every voter presents him- or her-self at a particular voting booth during specified hours? It seems to me that with a little of ingenuity and some willingness on the part of the powers-that-be this situation could be remedied thus enabling a greater percentage of Irish citizens to exercise their right to a vote. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Your report of the fund-raiser held by Leo Varadkar in a restaurant in Dublin (Home News, February 19th) is very interesting. Apparently, as confirmed by Mr Varadkar on RTÉ radio, 120 people paid €150 each, at a profit of €80 a head, for his campaign in Dublin West. He refused to say who attended this event, citing, of all things, data protection. Your report referred to the number of attendees who worked for telecommunications and public relations companies. The question as to why they were prepared to put €9,600 into a single constituency campaign for Mr Varadkar is not answered.
A month ago, Brian Cowen was revealed to have had a private dinner with Seán FitzPatrick and another Anglo Irish Bank director. This was considered, quite rightly, as unacceptable, and eventually led to Mr Cowen’s resignation from the leadership of Fianna Fáil. One of the loudest critics was Mr Varadkar.
Unless Mr Varadkar is prepared to let the public know which business people are anointing him with cash to give him a financial advantage over the other candidates in Dublin West, we must assume that the Galway tent has been re-erected in Castleknock, this time for Fine Gael’s benefit.
And just what do these business people want in return for their money from Mr Varadkar? And how can we, the public, have any trust or confidence in Mr Varadkar if he is appointed a minister?
As Pete Townsend wrote many years ago, “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss”. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – In this election season the events we have witnessed in cities throughout the Middle East should remind the Irish people of the sacrifices made by previous generations on our behalf to secure Ireland’s right to decide its own destiny. I hope the vivid images emerging of people bravely defying tyrannical regimes in an attempt to secure the right to determine their own future will convince those of us contemplating not exercising our franchise to reconsider. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I have to disagree with Lou Gogan (February 21st) when he says that the act of spoiling your vote is a valid way of letting your voice be heard.
While I prefer it to not voting at all, it is in itself an empty gesture. It may make you feel a little better but in the end it will literally count for nothing. Perhaps we could consider putting “None of the above” as an option on the ballot paper? Or failing that, how about “QuickPick”? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Micheál Martin’s complaint about the eligibility of some members of the Dáil (himself included) for teachers’ pensions is a bit hard to take. He was a member of the Cabinet for most of the last decade and a half and did nothing about the situation. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Paul McKay (February 19th) might like to consider the fact that when Micheál Martin made his unfortunate foray into mimicry, he was campaigning as one of several leaders of political parties in a free, fair and democratic general election; something which his cultured Chinese friends are unlikely to experience for the foreseeable future. – Yours, etc,