Madam, - A very disturbing feature of the recent by-elections was the pathetically low turnout in the two constituencies. Some 60 per cent of the electorate did not bother to vote. While many reasons have been put forward for this deplorable situation, it is hard not to conclude that apathy and cynicism - the twin enemies of democracy - were major factors.
The harsh reality is that, if people wanted to vote badly enough, they would find the time to do so. This has been clearly demonstrated in recent elections elsewhere where people endured considerable hardship and even risked death to exercise the franchise.
Low turnouts in elections do not augur well for the future of our democracy and it is essential that some way is found to persuade far greater numbers to participate. Compulsion probably would not work. In view of our propensity for gambling, perhaps a lottery based on the numbers on the ballot papers would do the trick. - Yours, etc.,
M.D. KENNEDY, Silchester Park, Glenageary, Co Dublin.
Madam, - Mark Brennock may or may not be correct that by-election results "are almost useless as aids to predicting future voter behaviour". I can't help wondering if that would be his conclusion if Fianna Fáil had won last week's two by-elections.
Mark Brennock and The Irish Times were first to consult the bookies and, as a result, correctly (as it turned out) rated the independent candidate as favourite. Why then, does he regard the result as "deeply disappointing for Labour"? Despite the splendid achievement of Catherine Murphy, a former Labour councillor, Labour polled 17.81 per cent as compared with 21.38 per cent in the 2002 General Election.
According to Mr Brennock "a previously unknown Fine Gael candidate pushed up the Fine Gael vote as an established Labour councillor lost ground". In fact both Paddy McNamara (Labour) and Darren Scully (Fine Gael) were elected to public office for the first time in last summer's local elections and the Fine Gael vote increased from 17.54 per cent in 2002 to 18.29 per cent in the by-election. Surely the Chief Political Correspondent would know that a former Labour and Democratic Left councillor would be more likely to eat into the Labour vote than that of Fine Gael?
Mr Brennock concedes that Labour now has in Dominic Hannigan "a credible presence . . . capable of challenging for a seat" in Meath East and whose votes in this election transferred at the exceptional rate of nearly 70 per cent to Fine Gael. In North Kildare the Fine Gael candidate polled 123 votes more than the Labour candidate but there is no basis to challenge the Fine Gael assertion that about 60 per cent of his transfers would have gone to Labour had he been first eliminated.
I doubt if Fianna Fáil is as sanguine as Mr Brennock about the 18 per cent and 12 per cent decrease it its vote in North Kildare and Meath respectively. - Yours, etc.,
DAVE MOYNAN, Secretary, Kildare North Constituency Council, The Labour Party, Maynooth, Co Kildare.