A chara, – At the finish of Tuesday’s three-way leaders debate on RTÉ I noted that not one of the gentlemen present rose when accepting the handshake of the redoubtable lady presenter.
Is this election so fiercely contested that the unchivalrous trio feared the loss of their seats? – Is mise,
JERRY TWOMEY,
Fr Russell Road, Limerick.
Madam, – I’m tired and frustrated listening to the three main party leaders telling us they feel our pain and understand how difficult it is for us to make ends meet. They tell us sorrowfully that we will have more painful burdens to bear in the future. In fact they have no empathy with the vast majority of the people. None of them understands that the most important of leadership traits is the ability to lead by example. If they want others to accept painful measures they should be prepared to inflict some pain on themselves.
The prime minister of Norway, an oil rich country with a comparable population to ours,is paid a salary of €165,000. In this bankrupt country of ours Honest Enda says he will take a taoiseach’s salary of €200,000. Not to be outdone St Eamon of Gilmore says he’ll to the job for €190 grand. Michael the Penitent is so busy he has no time to think about such trifling matters. It’s perfect obvious that these gentlemen are much more interested in money and status than in leading their people by example. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – These leaders’ debates are like Dublin buses. Nothing for ages then three of them come along together! – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Although this is the first election in which I’m eligible to vote, I have had much experience on the political scene, having grown up in a family where politics is a highly valued issue. In my experience of attending counts, it has been obvious to me from a young age how easily votes can be considered invalid. It astonishes me how many votes are cast away because they have been improperly filled out. People don’t realise what can make a vote void.
The following things render a vote eligible to be cancelled in full, or part. 1. If a number is repeated when marking from 1 down. 2. If there is any additional writing, comments or doodles on the ballot. For example, I once saw a vote that had been perfectly filled out with numbers from 1 to 8; however the vote was cancelled because the voter had drawn devil horns on the picture of one of the politicians. This sort of doodling (funny as it was), renders a vote invalid. 3. If there is no preference shown: ie. if the voter ticks or puts an X beside a number of candidates, regardless of whether there is a clear party preference.
It seems like a real shame that after someone makes the effort to go down to the polling station and cast their vote, it should be cancelled. It is possible, if you fill out your ballot incorrectly, to ask for another ballot paper, however there is a procedure to be followed to ensure your vote will not get counted twice.
Given that people have strong views towards certain parties this year, I can see how expressing opinions on a ballot paper may be tempting, however by doing so you will make your vote futile. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Perusing the leading headline and your own editorial (February 21st), in which it seems a given that Fine Gael will be the largest party (but without an overall majority), I put this observation to the Irish people – “Beware of that you wish for, and why”.
I believe what the country needs in this time of dire straits is a coalition of all the main parties, ie, Fine Gael, Labour, Fianna Fáil and yes, Sinn Féin, to bring the country through the next few years of turmoil. Any one-party government will govern only on a limited agenda, without the use of the talents of many worthy figures from the country’s resources as a whole.
I hope I am wrong, but if the result of the election is as forecast in the recent opinion polls, I believe that there will be another election within three years, to sort out the even bigger mess we find ourselves in now. - Yours, etc,
Madam, – I must congratulate Barry Desmond (February 18th) for his scattergun attack upon the candidates seeking election.
It would appear that he has intimate knowledge of socialists, Trotskyists, Marxists and the other candidates seeking election, as he believes that these would not help provide stable government and therefore should be ignored.
As a socialist, Marxist and Trotskyist, I do not recall ever meeting Mr Desmond on any occasion where he and I could establish each other’s credentials.
However, I hope that he is not the same Barry Desmond that in pursuit of stability and bed closures, as Labour Minister for Health and Children in the Fine Gael/Labour government of 1983 to 1987; brought down the government with the exit of the Labour party. So much for stability! - Yours, etc,
Madam, – I feel certain most reasonable people, of whatever gender, would agree that women are very poorly represented in our national parliament. However, we have made some progress over the past century. Your “From the Archives” article (February 19th) for 1912 reminds us of where we have come from. That was when the great debate was, Votes for Women. We were reminded of how the Princes of the most Holy Roman church regarded them in those days. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I am disgusted by the recent comments by Lucinda Creighton of Fine Gael when she expressly stated that marriage shouldn’t be allowed for same sex couples on the grounds that she believed the purpose of marriage is “primarily about children, main purpose being to propagate and create environment for children to grow up” (Breaking News, February 23rd). What about love? What about couples who cannot conceive? Should they also not be allowed the protection of full marriage equality? I contacted the Fine Gael press office a number of times and asked they make a statement supporting marriage equality. They eventually replied with a statement supporting civil partnership, and a number of issues that concern the LGBT community such as bullying, and the tax benefits that were exempted from the recent Finance Bill due to expediency.
They consistently refused to issue a statement supporting full equality for the gay community on the issue of marriage, and as of the time of writing, continue to do so. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Vincent J Lavery (February 23rd) seeks to blame the entire Irish populace for the economic crisis we are currently mired in rather than just the political party that was supposed to “lead” us for the past 14 years. In this, perhaps he has a point.
However, I well and truly part company with his “logic” when he proclaims that, as a traditional Fine Gael supporter he’ll vote Fianna Fáil this time because history will show “Brian Lenihan and Brian Cowen as statesmen . . . oncerned about the next generation.” I would love to hear how Mr. Lavery can square concern for the next generation with the disastrous decision taken by these two “statesmen” to make public the debts of private gamblers, thereby decimating the hopes and expectations of an entire generation of young Irish people, forced to flee these shores in their thousands, having had no part in the creation of this mess. – Yours, etc,
JD MANGAN,
Stillorgan Road,
Stillorgan, Co Dublin.
A chara, – When it comes to casting our lot tomorrow we should not only consider who we want in government but also whom we want in Opposition. To be in Opposition in the 31st Dáil will be a position of honour and responsibility. A vociferous, ferocious Opposition is needed to keep the next government in check and hold it to account. They will be our watchdogs guarding the guard. This is crucial at this juncture in our history. It is interesting to note that on the Prime Timeleaders debate there was a notable absence of Sinn Féin and the United Left Alliance which will field candidates in the general election who would surely fulfil this role admirably. – Is mise,
KILLIAN BRENNAN,
Malahide Road, Dublin 17.
Madam, – If the opinion polls are to be believed it is a certainty that Fine Gael and Labour will form the next government, with each securing its best ever result giving it the largest majority any Irish government has ever had.
But we must not forget the sideshow that is the importance of choosing the next leader of the opposition. Fianna Fáil seems likely to be the third largest party but Independents may have more seats. If they do, they can all join together and form a Technical Group which would exceed the seat number of Fianna Fáil and give that new group the right to be the main opposition. This could be bad enough, but the worst case scenario could be that a union of Sinn Fein and some United Left Alliance TDs would join together and claim the right to be official opposition. If the utter grotesqueness of the people of Louth voting for Gerry Adams to be a TD, in the very place where the bodies of those disappeared by Adams’s IRA friends are still being found, were to come to pass, then the real horror would be ending up with Mr Adams as leader of the opposition. So people who live in constituencies where there is a real danger of Sinn Féin gaining a final seat, should think long and hard about the sort of people they want representing them. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – In her critique of Gerry Adams, Una Heaton urges shame on the “men and women of violence”. Is this admonishment confined to republicans, or can we include the British Army, RUC, UDR, UDA, UVF, LVF, etc? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Micheál Martin’s recent invocation of the sprit of Fianna Fáil’s leaders made me think of the generations of ordinary Irish people who struggled to ensure a better life for their children. The generations who watched their children leave but who always hoped this country would eventually live up to its potential. What has happened to our country now is a betrayal not only of ourselves and our children, but of previous generations. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Not a single election candidate has come to my door.
Is this a record? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Could I respectfully suggest that every single person whose name will be on our ballot papers tomorrow read Marie Murray’s article (HEALTHplus, February 22nd). To quote two sentences: “The most valued currency in our country today is truth. The most valued characteristic in people is integrity.” Could our next crop of Government officials please tell us the truth and not what they think we need to hear.
It is interesting to see Middle Eastern countries fighting for democracy while our politicians have ceded our hard-won democracy to the IMF and bondholders. – Yours, etc,
A chara, – As a believing, practising member of the Catholic Church, I am appalled at the narrowness of the commentary coming from individuals claiming to speak on behalf of Catholics, in relation to the election. At a time when values of social justice and radical equality have never so needed a voice in political debate, the voice of Catholicism is being used instead to promote an narrow agenda of social conservatism.
Certainly I hold radically different views on such issues as abortion and the family to the views of the mainstream of the Catholic hierarchy. The absence of alternative Catholic voices on these issues is itself worrying.
But what is most worrying is what the Catholic commentariat has been willing to ignore, while promoting its narrow agenda. Where are the calls from these same devout Catholics to narrow inequality and protect communities? Where is the outrage at the continuing fall in the living standards of our poorest citizens? Where is the vision for a society which demands dignity for every one of its citizens?
Along with many, I have been clinging onto my Catholic faith by the finest of threads in recent months. I am still a member of the church because I believe Catholicism offers one route, among many others, to fight for a fair society. I would like to believe there are those in the hierarchy of the church who agree. They have a responsibility to publicly say so, and not stand by and allow Catholicism to be hijacked by those who think that maintaining the social status quo is more important than defending the wellbeing of Ireland’s communities, vulnerable, and poor. – Is mise,