Sir, - Vincent Browne recently criticised Ireland's inaction on EU and UN democratic deficits (Opinion, January 26th). There are a number of other even more glaringly undemocratic bodies where Ireland is equally inactive on the question of democracy. These are the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Both make and implement policies which directly affect the lives of people across the developing world with regard to basic issues of survival - access to primary education and health, employment, and an adequate diet.
Yet the people most affected by these policies are virtually voiceless at IMF and World Bank decision-making tables, where voting power is based on the principle of one dollar one vote, rather than one country one vote. The G8 control these bodies, with the US holding a virtual veto.
The recent resignation of Mr Camdessus, IMF managing director for the past 13 years, exposed the cosy consensus between the US and Europe on the division of the spoils at these institutions. Europe considers the top IMF job as its property while the US controls the top job at the World Bank. So now we witness unseemly horse-trading among Europe's political elites as to which country is due the top IMF job. Developing countries, who form two-thirds of the IMF's membership, and are almost exclusively the ones at the receiving end of IMF policies, are completely excluded from this process. No country or continent should have property rights in jobs at international institutions.
If the IMF and World Bank are to have a valid role at international level they must be required to meet basic democratic standards, e.g. equal voting rights. The battle for universal adult suffrage at national level was achieved only with the defeat of the argument that the people of no property had no legitimate interest in who ruled their country. It is time to end property-based votes at the IMF and World Bank also. The Irish government, which has recently increased Ireland's contributions to the IMF and World Bank, should now call for the democratisation of these bodies. - Yours, etc.
Jean Somers, Co-ordinator, Debt and Development Coalition Ireland, All Hallows, Grace Park Road, Dublin 9.