Madam, – So, Noel Grealish will vote for Enda Kenny as taoiseach (Home News, March 2nd) because both are from the west of Ireland.
This TD has yet to grasp the magnitude of the challenge facing the country. The parish pump has obviously stood firm in the face of the election tsunami. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Brian P O Cinneide (March 2nd) advocates that citizens be stripped of the right to stand for election to Dáil Éireann unless they are members of a political party, and displays a distrust of the Irish electorate last seen with the disenfranchisement of the Forty Shilling Freeholders in 1829. He says the incoming government should consider his proposal. It seems to me that it would require an amendment of the Constitution, or Basic Law, which belongs to the Irish people, and not any party or combination of parties.
Mr O Cinneide disparages parish-pump politics when many parts of Ireland are recovering from a loss of piped water supplies, and the citizens from having to buy bottled water. I can recall too, the late Conor Cruise O’Brien, whose reputation reaches even to Africa, writing of the stink arising, when, for want of proper pumping, my alma mater in Sutton was swamped in sewage.
As I don’t pay taxes in Ireland, I won’t argue about the expense of democratic elections, but I’m sure Constitutional amendments don’t come cheap. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Last weekend saw a fantastic victory for the Labour Party, with 37 deputies elected to Dáil Éireann. I felt immensely proud, as a member, to have seen my party grow from strength to strength under Éamon Gilmore. The Irish people have offered Labour an historic opportunity to reshape the course of politics. As the second largest party in the State, the people have asked us to lead an opposition to Fine Gael. With some 76 seats, incredibly close to an overall majority, Fine Gael was selected as the party to govern.
In the interests of democracy, it is appropriate that the Labour Party provide a robust opposition and keep this administration in check. Some have argued that Labour must be a “mudguard” to Fine Gael and restrain some of the more extreme policies advocated by that party.
Unfortunately, Fine Gael already has the capacity to receive support from Independents and Fianna Fáil, making a Labour contribution to government irrelevant. In 1994, when there was an almost even split between Democratic Left/Labour and Fine Gael, with FG on 47 seats and DL/Lab on 38. In that situation, it was necessary and productive for Labour to be in government and indeed that coalition achieved a great deal. We campaigned for Gilmore to be taoiseach and to break the mould of Irish politics in the recent general election. The electorate have voiced their opinions and offered us an historic opportunity to be a real force in Irish politics. It is important that we seize it, and offer a coherent opposition, which can implement real change for the people of this country.
We must not prop up Fine Gael and offer that party a monopoly of power. Fine Gael and Labour are distinctly different parties. In any other European state, we would lead the opposition. It ought to be no different in Ireland.
Allowing a government to form with 114 seats out of 166 is inherently undemocratic and would allow a discredited Fianna Fáil, who the people rejected outright, lead the charge. Labour Youth believes that this new government must be accountable to the people, and the only way of achieving that is by creating a strong opposition, led by the Labour Party and Mr Gilmore. – Yours, etc,
A chara, – As a new government programme is being negotiated, we’ve learned that clear warnings of the economic crash were ignored by the Fianna Fáil/PD coalitions of the past 10 years.
So Fine Gael and Labour will do their utmost to heed today’s evidence on future catastrophes? And will therefore include in their plans a strong climate change Bill to be enacted by the end of this year? Yes, the new government will be busy tackling the banking, budgeting, and employment creation crises. But given that Ireland’s per capita greenhouse emissions are still among the highest in the developed world, it’s urgent that we change our ways. Two climate Bills have now been published, including the all-party Bill supported by Fine Gael and Labour in October 2009. The groundwork has been done, so the test for both parties is to take on the people who’ll shout that we can’t afford it (not now, not like this, and sure don’t worry, we’ll get a soft landing on this one).
We’ve had to learn many hard lessons in the past few years. But hoping to negotiate bailouts with the oceans and the air would leave us yearning for the good old EU/IMF times. From now on, let’s try to be wise before the event. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – As the Labour Party and Fine Gael meet to negotiate a programme for government, it might be timely to remind them of one area where the two parties would seem to agree: the need for Ireland’s foreign policy to be based on human rights.
All major parties represented in the previous Dáil support a foreign policy that promotes human rights. The next government can build on this consensus, and develop a truly rights-based foreign policy, which would see Ireland ratify a series of core human rights treaties to which it is already a signatory, and which would lead Ireland to champion our overseas aid commitments.
Ireland can send out a strong signal to the world that it is serious about investing in international co-operation, and that the new, stronger Ireland we intend to build will be one that delivers on its core principles, however difficult it may be to do so. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – A good starting point for the rebuilding of Fianna Fáil would be for the outgoing taoiseach to freeze all nominations/ appointments made by his TD colleagues during the election campaign, so that the necessity for these appointments can be evaluated and the suitability of appointees be scrutinised against established criteria – a first step on the long road to transparency. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Gerry Noonan complains about Sinn Féin candidates using the Irish flag (March 1st). Mr Noonan says “It (the flag) belongs to all of us and should be shown respect”. So it belongs to all of us, but we can only use it in instances that Mr Noonan approves of? When will Mr Noonan be releasing his list of acceptable uses? I don’t want to accidentally use the flag in the wrong way.
How come Mr Noonan feels the need to single out Sinn Féin candidates? Many candidates had Irish flags with them. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I couldn’t help but notice that when Mary Hanafin launched her election campaign, she was photographed alongside prominent Irish businessman and Apprentice star, Bill Cullen. As Ms Hanafin failed to be re-elected, is it now a case of “Mary . . . you’re fired?” – Yours, etc,