Sir, – With all the commotion about needing 20 Oireachtas signatures or the backing of four local councils in order to secure a nomination, I have come up with the following suggestion. We should have an amendment to the Constitution stating that a combination of 10 Oireachtas signatures and two local councils would suffice. We could all vote on it on the same day as the election and save us all from this tortuous process again in seven years. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – How disappointing, although perhaps not surprising that Mattie McGrath, in outlining why he would not be signing David Norris’s presidential nomination papers, should be so completely in thrall to the expressed views of those people who go, as he put it, “knocking on doors” for him at election time (Home News, September 26th).
As if the primary concern in entering politics were simply winning re-election; as if no tough decision should be taken on principle where it might lose even a single supporter; as if the views of the tiniest minority should weigh heaviest in the balance; as if it were inconceivable that the diktat of the parish pump could ever be set aside in the service of a larger vision. Mr McGrath said he was “worlds away” politically from David Norris. With such a limited and limiting view of what involvement in public life can and should be about, he’s right about that. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – I agree with Alan Loughnane (September 26th) that it is “not up to Minister for Justice Alan Shatter” to decide that Martin McGuinness is “not an appropriate person” to hold the office of president and that this decision is indeed in the hands of the Irish people. However, as far as I can see, the Minister was merely expressing an opinion, which he is entitled to do in our democracy. I, too, am looking forward to expressing my opinion on Martin McGuinness’s candidature — on October 27th in the confines of a voting booth. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Fintan O’Toole now portrays Martin McGuinness to be a Michael Collins rather than a de Valera (Opinion & Analysis, September 267h).
Having read Michael Collins's vision for Ireland in The Path to Freedom, I would love to have someone of that calibre and vision in high office in Ireland.
Having effectively accused Mr McGuinness of competence and vision, two thing desperately lacking in the current political elite, Mr O’Toole is in danger of becoming Mr McGuinness’s election agent. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Martin McGuinness’s claim that he would only accept the average industrial wage if he were elected president is still probably €35,000 too much, given that he has never worked – or paid direct taxes – in the Republic. It would be somewhat ironic to pay a president who also had the luxury of never having had to contribute to the State’s coffers. – Yours, etc,