Sir, - In light of the ongoing litany of revelations, scams, strokes, etc., it might be useful to reconsider our system for the election of public representatives. An alternative to the present system would be to give each member of the electorate one non-transferable negative vote which they would cast for the candidate they would least like as their representative in Dail Eireann or local authority. The candidates with the lowest number of such votes would be elected.
This system would have the advantage of more accurately reflecting the feelings of the electorate about the politicians concerned and might just get rid of some of the worst. - Yours, etc.,
Ron Kirkham, Mount Merrion, Co Dublin.