Sir, – Fintan’s O’Toole’s piece “Ireland’s far-right movement will emerge from the ‘breakfast roll-atariat’” (April 14th) makes an excellent point regarding political representation. The organisers of the fuel protest insisted that they were speaking and acting on behalf of “the people of Ireland” but in fact they appointed themselves to this role.
In her classic book The Concept of Representation (1967) Hanna Pitkin reminds us that political representation is a messy concept; however, the issue of authorisation – namely the process by which a representative obtains their standing, status, position or office – is crucial to legitimate representation.
As the writer of this letter I do not represent all Italian immigrants in Ireland, or all men over the age of 60, or the institution where I happen to work, University College Cork.
I only represent my beliefs and opinions. Similarly, unless they were authorised to speak on behalf of the Irish working class, neither Niall McConnell nor Christopher Duffy have the right to represent “the people of Ireland”. Only someone with a gargantuan ego would assume that “because I am X, therefore I represent all X”. That’s bad logic, and bad politics.
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The Irish working class already have a voice. Trade unions speak on behalf of the working people – that’s their job and, crucially, they have the authority and accountability to represent their members. – Yours, etc,
PROF VITTORIO BUFACCHI
Department of Philosophy,
University College Cork.
Sir, – Sometimes in idle moments I have mused that should the worst come to the worst here in England (war, climate disaster, Nigel Farage etc), I could always retreat “home” to Ireland, a stable place full of nice people too sensible to be drawn into the world’s idiocies.
But after the events of the last week and its precursors, as incisively analysed by Fintan O’Toole, I fear another illusion has been shattered. Not now, and not ever? – Yours, etc,
SEÁN BOYLE
London N8.
Sir, – Surely I can’t be the only one to see the irony in Simon Harris, the politician previously known as “the TikTok taoiseach”, reading from an A4 sheet in the Dáil to castigate those who used social media and the airwaves to get their point across in recent weeks? – Yours, etc,
RITA O’BRIEN
Lucan,
Co Dublin.
