Sir, – Should the Irish people elect Martin McGuinness as president, would we be asked to repeat the electoral process until an “appropriate” leader is chosen? – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Fintan O’Toole is correct that the DUP had no free choice but to accept Martin McGuinness as Deputy First Minister (Opinion Analysis, September 27th). However, Mr O’Toole forgets to put on record that Sinn Féin was democratically elected. In other words, the electorate of the North freely chose. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Given the ambitions of Martin McGuinness for himself and his party in the Republic, there is much indeed that warrants scrutiny about his past and his version of it.
Northern politicians have been something of a protected species because of a concern not to express any criticism of either their past or present that could risk derailing the peace process. One result has been that the true horror of the IRA violence has been largely submerged in the interests of peace. The other has been that an almost lyrical assessment of Mr McGuinness’s performance as Deputy First Minister, and that of his party in Stormont, has gained considerable currency. I very much hope that the presidential election debate will seek to hold him to account for his actions in both the distant and recent past.
The violence of which Mr McGuinness was a central figure has been replaced by a flawed political arrangement that must be regarded at best as interim. Two fundamentally sectarian parties, on the back of their violence and/or bigotry, have got to share the spoils of governance in Northern Ireland.
The survival of Sinn Féin and the DUP as political parties depends on preserving the “two traditions” concept of Northern Ireland society. In that context both Mr McGuinness and Ian Paisley had much to chuckle about, and it makes perfect sense for him and Peter Robinson to pose as bosom friends.
Witness the offer to the family of Robert McCartney to shoot his killers after Sinn Féin had dug a hole for itself in the face of the heroism of Mr McCartney’s sisters. And witness more recently Mr McGuinness’s crass insensitivity towards Anne Travers regarding Sinn Féin’s appointment of Mary McArdle, one of the team that murdered her sister Mary in 1984, as a special adviser.
Yes, better by far what Mr McGuinness has been doing recently than in his previous role co-ordinating slaughter. But does the country need as its president someone who cannot distinguish between his party’s needs and what is best for Ireland and all its people, and an end to the tribalism at the root of the Troubles as a prerequisite to real peace? – Yours, etc,
Sir, – I did not think it would happen, but perhaps it would in the end have been too great a political embarrassment had Senator Norris with such sustained public support been denied the opportunity to stand for the office of president of Ireland.
Let him now put his eloquence and humanity at the service of the public good, and let the people of Ireland determine the future of the presidency of Ireland, not the politicians who have brought us to the verge of national bankruptcy and surrendered the sovereignty that has always been so precious to Irish men and women down the ages. Whoever now wins the forthcoming election, it will be a triumph for Irish democracy. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – The amount of time and space devoted to Senator Norris on the airwaves and newspapers is grossly unfair to other candidates.
I am a member of a political party, with a candidate, but I will vote for Mary Davis, who appeals to me as the outstanding Independent. If she is as dedicated and respected as the outgoing Mary, our nation will be blessed. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – I would remind Ed Moloney (Weekend Review, September 24th) that Martin McGuinness was never a member of “Óglaigh na hÉireann”. He was, however, a member of the Provisional IRA.
There is only one Óglaigh na hÉireann – the Irish Defence Forces, with a proud history of defending the sovereignty of the Republic from the threat to this State that was the Provisional IRA. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – I find it interesting that democracy was served by local government rather than by the Oireachtas. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – An advertisement by the Department of Defence, with advice for presidential candidates regarding the circulation of election literature to the Defence Forces, appeared in all the daily newspapers yesterday.
A cheaper and more direct way of getting this information to the seven candidates would have been direct mail, at a total cost of €3.85. – Yours, etc,