A chara, - When asked his views on the need for possible changes in the nominating procedures for the office of President, the Taoiseach stated his conviction that no change was necessary - "I do not see any justification for changing it" he declared, (The Irish Times, October 7th).
On the surface, the requirement in Article 12 of the Constitution that a candidate must be nominated either by 20 members of the Oireachtas or by 4 "administrative counties", appears reasonable. However, the Taoiseach omitted to tell the Dáil that this provision can be effectively negated by the political parties imposing a "whip" on the nominating members - to prevent their nomination of particular candidates, as happened recently.
The behaviour of the established political parties in enforcing such a restriction on the activities of their members distorts the intentions of the Constitution and, in doing so, constitutes a denial of democracy. In effect, before a person can seek the approval of the electorate for the office of President, that person must first have her/his candidacy endorsed by the political establishment.
Indeed, the leader of the main Opposition party also played a leading role in distorting the intention of Article 12, by "whipping" his party members into line, in order to deny a nomination to a non-party candidate. The exercise of that Fine Gael veto offended against the spirit of the Constitution and is to be deplored.
The question Mr Kenny should have asked the Taoiseach in the Dáil, if he was serious about enhancing the quality of democracy in this Republic, was: "Should the nomination of candidates to the office of President continue to be subject to the approval of the political parties?" - Is mise,
LIAM Ó GÉIBHEANNAIGH,
Áth an Ghainimh,
Co. Átha Cliath.