Sir, – There are currently two schools of thought surrounding how our new Taoiseach will govern: either he will be a Thatcherite right-wing ideologue or he will be a pro-European centrist, akin to Emmanuel Macron in France or Justin Trudeau in Canada.
Undoubtedly, Mr Varadkar leaned decidedly further to the right as a young man writing letters to your newspaper but has outlined on numerous occasions – the most recent being in his speech to the Dáil on his election as Taoiseach – that he plans to lead a modern centrist Government.
The media is one of the most important pillars of our democratic society. With the power it holds, however, comes a responsibility to report fairly and accurately.
During the Fine Gael leadership election, your newspaper, as well as many others, placed far greater emphasis on a brief comment Mr Varadkar made in a speech over any policy position he outlined.
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“Those who get up early in the morning” quickly became a brush in which to paint Mr Varadkar as Fine Gael’s most right-wing leader in its history, despite him clarifying the next morning that he included carers, among others, in this description. There was little or no attention given to Mr Varadkar’s new social contract – the first policy priority in the document he published during the leadership contest.
Only time will tell what sort of Taoiseach Mr Varadkar will become. The hostility he faced in the Dáil chamber yesterday, as well as the attempts by some in the media to depict him in a certain light, highlight the toxic cynicism and partisanship that continue to pervade our political system.
He should be given a fair chance to set out his stall before people start making any premature assertions. – Yours, etc,
SIMON FOY,
Sutton,
Dublin 13.
Sir, – We can dismiss the nonsense that Leo Varadkar has anything in common with Cananda’s Justin Trudeau or France’s Emmanuel Macron, except that they are similar in age. When asked why he appointed a gender-equal cabinet, Mr Trudeau responded “because it’s 2015”. Mr Macron also appointed a gender-equal cabinet. Well, it’s now 2017 and the gender equality message still hasn’t reached Ireland, although given the pitiful performance of most of the women appointed to cabinet in Irish history, a gender-equal cabinet is unlikely to improve policy outcomes.
The new Taoiseach commented on Wednesday that he “will strengthen bonds with the UK and US and is committed to multilateralism”. But previously he said his Government would not be left or right. The UK and US are right-wing political systems by default where the basic theory is that the government should step out of the way of rich people, and now and again an alternative is elected to tweak how much red tape the less well-off have to get through to get a fair chance in life, but the system itself never changes.
If Mr Varadkar really wanted to follow in the steps of Mr Trudeau and Mr Macron he would reach out to continental Europe because they have a different system we could learn from in Ireland. Countries on the Continent have a health system we could use, they have housing policies we could use, they have criminal justice policies we could use, and they have policies to support indigenous business and small traders that we could use. No one needs to reinvent the wheel.
So we come back to ideology. Leo Varadkar rejects the social democracy of the Just Society as did Enda Kenny, Michael Noonan and John Bruton before him. He is more comfortable with the stale, male grey suits of Fine Gael because his life experience makes that type of person more appealing to him.
People who gain office are who they are and do not change; in fact they are likely to become more closed-minded as they retreat further away from normal human interaction.
If Mr Varadkar could not be radical and new now, he never will be.
He’s no Trudeau, or Macron, he’s not even a FitzGerald, and he’s certainly no Lemass, that’s for sure. – Yours, etc,
DESMOND FitzGERALD,
London.
A chara, – When the excitement of his election settles, Leo Varadkar will find himself Taoiseach of a minority government. He was voted leader of Fine Gael without the support of the majority of the grass-roots membership of the party. Therefore his mandate to lead the country is tenuous at best. Under normal circumstances he would probably hold a snap election to strengthen his hand but, I’m guessing, not this time! – Is mise,
JOHN KELLY,
Bennekerry,
Co Carlow.
Sir, – Much is expected of Leo Varadkar as Taoiseach. I wonder if it would too much to expect that he might help to usher in a new era of free votes in Dáil Éireann?
Last June, four political parties imposed the whip to defeat Independent TD Maureen O’Sullivan’s Bill to ban hare coursing. This, despite expressions of support for the protection of the gentle hare from TDs of all parties. The sight of those politicians who honestly opposed recreational hare-baiting (as expressed in emails and letters to campaign groups) trooping through the lobbies to safeguard its future was just nauseating.
They were coerced into giving the green light to the snatching of hares from our countryside and setting pairs of hyped-up dogs after them, a practice that is, unlike politics, a real blood sport.
British prime minister Theresa May was widely slated for her manifesto pledge attempt to reverse the UK’s hunting ban, but in fairness she had proposed a free vote on the measure. Even the most right-wing Tories who back riding to hounds vocally reject the use of the whip on this parliamentary issue of conscience.
If die-hard Tories of the “Hooray Henry” set can accept a free vote on a Bill to legalise fox hunting and hare coursing, then surely our own parties should be prepared to relax the whip for a vote on banning these obscenities. – Yours, etc,
JOHN FITZGERALD,
Callan,
Co Kilkenny.
Sir, – My advice for the incoming Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy is that the housing crisis is a capitalist problem needing a socialist solution. Be brave, Minister. – Yours, etc,
PAUL MAHER,
Tipperary.
Sir, – I was struck by Leo Varadkar’s dismissal of challenges from opposing parties as “debates from the 1980s”. It seems to me that the arguments about precarious employment, unaffordable housing and spiralling personal debt levels address precisely the issues that many people, particularly the young, are facing today.
Mr Varadkar, meanwhile, seems to still be rehashing the slogans of 1997, where platitudes about “early risers” could be used in place of effective action to address the aforementioned problems. It is this outdated, self-proclaimed centrism which gave rise to Donald Trump and Brexit, and which must be challenged if we are to begin tackling the issues of the 21st century. – Yours, etc,
COLM O’MAHONY,
Greystones,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – I note that Leo Varadkar is following the well-worn path of appointing Ministers to Government without regard to colour, class, creed or, on occasion, ability. Indeed he may be adopting criteria such as where candidates live (and in particular in which constituencies they live) and how they voted in the recent leadership election. Is this practice not contrary to employment legislation? – Yours, etc,
DAVID McCABE,
Blackrock, Co Dublin.
Sir, – What does it say about our attitude to third-level education when Mary Mitchell O’Connor, the new Minister of State with responsibility for that sector, is regarded as the biggest loser in the Cabinet reshuffle and to have been “demoted”? – Yours, etc,
TONY MURRAY,
School of Media,
Dublin Institute
of Technology,
Dublin 2.