A chara, – Eoghan Murphy bewails the evils of the whip system, which is certainly applied more stringently in Irish politics than in any other modern democracy of which I am aware ("Fine Gael promised political reform, but the Government hasn't delivered", Opinion & Analysis, November 5th). However he completely fails to acknowledge the fact that he, like every other TD elected by the people of this country, has a choice – to vote against the whip.
The reality is that Mr Murphy wants to have it both ways by claiming to be the victim of a system with which he continues to co-operate. As long as the majority of TDs continue to follow Mr Murphy’s example and submit to the whip on every single vote, their party leaders could be forgiven for surmising that any protestations are no more than window-dressing.
For my part, as a constituent of Mr Murphy's, I would rather he speak his mind in the Dáil rather than in the columns of The Irish Times, and follow this up by voting accordingly. – Is mise,
MUIREANN LYNCH,
Sandymount, Dublin 4.
Sir, – Contrary to what Eoghan Murphy TD seemingly believes, a TD is in fact free to vote how he or she wishes. The whip system operates through pressure but it is not totalitarian; adhering to it is a choice – sometimes a careerist one.
Mr Murphy is only parliamentarily unfree if he holds his political free will and principles as subservient to his membership of the Fine Gael parliamentary party; if he feels the need, he could jettison the latter to dignify the former at any time.
Depressingly for Mr Murphy, the whip system looks like it is here to stay. Leo Varadkar – the current favourite to succeed the taoiseach as Fine Gael leader – has previously written in fervent advocacy of its merits.
In the light of all of this, if Mr Murphy is not merely posturing, then he and like-minded Fine Gael TDs must surely join his constituency colleague Lucinda Creighton and others in standing as non-Fine Gael general election candidates. – Yours, etc,
ANDREW GREANEY,
Clontarf, Dublin 3.
Sir, – Eoghan Murphy has pinpointed the malaise that has beset our political and governmental process. Governance and acceptance of responsibility have never been the hallmarks of our national psyche. I naively bought the Fine Gael promise of openness, parliamentary freedom of expression and responsibility at the last election; what a fool I was. And with the current water shambles, the lack of implementation of these basic reforms has come to bite them in no uncertain manner. The way the establishment of a huge quango was railroaded through the Dáil without proper debate and scrutiny was arrogant in the extreme. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN MORE O’FERRALL,
Dublin 18.