Madam, – Vincent Browne (Opinion, June 3rd) talks about how “No matter what the people want now, it will be the same as before”. Which people is he thinking of? The 70 per cent who will vote for the Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour parties that he disparages? Perhaps Mr Browne would be happier if we followed the old Soviet adage of dissolving the people and electing a new one? Mr Browne could always do the honourable thing and seek a mandate himself.
But to do the usual Irish thing of claiming that the votes of the Irish people have nothing to do with the Irish people just doesn’t wash.
We took over Dublin Castle years ago. Perhaps we need to start acting like it. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Alison Healy’s article on the subject of the youth vote (“Election hopefuls fail to impress the young”, June 3rd) makes interesting reading. She reports that a small survey of people aged between 18 and 25 found that 70 per cent were not planning to vote on Friday. Meanwhile, the National Youth Council has proposed lowering the voting age to 16.
But if people between the age of 18 and 25 find politics too dull and boring to bother voting, are those between 16 and 18 going to be any different? There are worse things than dullness and boredom. The loss of control over all things that effect your life – which is the lot of the population of many parts of the world who do not have any right to a vote – is not boring nor dull, but it is important. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – You published a letter from a political party leader (Eamon Gilmore) under the heading “Shaking up the party system” on May 29th.
Having since listened to this individual and other party leaders growing more anxious, even shrill, I agree that it is time indeed to shake up the party system in this country.
And what better way to do this than to simply vote only for independent candidates on Friday? Just think of the hugely powerful message that this would send to all of the political parties and, who knows, we might actually get public representatives who are passionate, committed and independently-minded, who see their role as serving the citizens and communities of Ireland rather than an institutionalised political party?
I hasten to add that I have no connection with any independent candidate in any of the forthcoming elections. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – In “Ireland’s first black mayor Adebari seeks re-election” (June 2nd) it is stated that Tomás Mac Curtain “died on hunger strike in 1920”. In fact MacCurtain was murdered in his own home by the RIC. It was his successor, Terence MacSwiney, who died on hunger strike. Both were lords mayor of Cork not mayors. – Yours, etc,