Sir, – So the election has been called for Friday, February 26th. All working parents with children who attend national school must either take a day’s annual leave or make childminding arrangements. Most national schools are closed for a mid-term break the week before. Could the Taoiseach not have exercised a little common sense and called the election for February 19th instead? While I appreciate that there are very many more serious election issues, this of itself would steer me away from voting for Fine Gael! – Yours, etc,
SÍOBHRA RUSH,
Churchtown,
Dublin 14.
Sir, – Now that we are in election mode, can we end once and for all the nonsense of using schools for polling stations? The inconvenience, expense and waste of having polling stations in school premises must be stopped. Every polling area is awash with community halls, parish halls and other equally convenient venues, the use of which would not result in the huge disruption caused by such school closures. – Yours, etc,
JOHN ROGERS,
Rathowen,
Co Westmeath.
Sir, – In the context of earlier speculation regarding the election date, Joan Burton is quoted on your front page as saying that “people will be taken out of their misery very soon” ( February 2nd). Perhaps an unfortunate choice of phrase given the present state of the nation and reminiscent of Boyle Roche MP (1743-1807), who has been quoted as saying that “the cup of Ireland’s misery has been overflowing for centuries and is not yet half full”. – Yours, etc,
TONY BURKE,
Baldoyle,
Dublin 13.
Sir, – Given the high proportion of declared candidates running under the banner of “Independent” in the general election, it is important that voters are aware that when it comes to the ballot paper itself, there will be no candidates actually on the ballot paper with the title of “Independent”. Instead aspiring politicians who have campaigned under such banners are, rather paradoxically, renamed as “Non-Party” when it comes to their identification on the ballot paper.
This is surely not only insulting to those candidates who genuinely do not wish to be associated with a political party, it is also a source of confusion for the electorate.
To add to the confusion, if elected as “Non-Party”, the candidate will again revert to the label of “Independent”! – Yours, etc,
Dr VINCENT KENNY,
Knocklyon,
Dublin 16.
Sir, – Surely not Friday 26th? That’s twice the bad luck! – Yours, etc,
EUGENE TANNAM,
Firhouse,
Dublin 24.
Sir, – Civilisation will finally reach Ireland only when our politicians become as afraid of upsetting decent taxpayers and voters as they clearly are of upsetting banks and large corporations. – Yours, etc,
RICHARD BARTON ,
Tinahely,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – Now that the race for Dáil seats has finally begun, will the media pay as much attention to the outlandish and uncosted policies of the far left as it has to the perceived failings of the outgoing Government?
With the honourable exception The Irish Times, much of the negative comment from Opposition sources was allowed to go unchallenged.
There were, of course, some ludicrous promises made and not kept by the Coalition partners, and our recovery from austerity has been a massive burden for many. However, steady nerves and professional diplomacy, at crucially important and protracted negotiations, made all the difference. Does anyone really believe that bleeding multinationals is the way forward? – Yours, etc,
NIALL GINTY,
Killester,
Dublin 5.
Sir, – A warning for those who put undue store in public opinion polls, those already published and the dreaded spate to come – look at the United Kingdom 2015 and look at Iowa this week!
As JB Priestley said: “Public opinion polls are rather like children in a garden, digging things up all the time to see how they’re growing.” – Yours, etc,
OLIVER McGRANE,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 16.
Sir, – In "Why we will not miss the 31st Dáil" (Opinion & Analysis, February 2nd), Fintan O'Toole claims that the 31st Dáil "was elected with a huge mandate for radical democratic change, but lapsed into collective indifference and impotence". Is this true?
Necessity might be the mother of invention, but radical change is something that rational people reserve for times of peace and plenty, when calm reflection and sound planning are possible.
In difficult times a steady hand is the best response, and essentially that is what the Irish people voted for in the 2011 general election, ie two fairly predictable, stable, middle-of the-road establishment parties with a history of co-operation and no pretensions of governing by ideology.
A simple view is that Fine Gael would like to reform the administration and public sector to reduce the inertia that strangles most attempts at change in Irish public life, while Labour is mandated to improve the lot of the trade union members in the public and semi-State sectors. One is pro-free market perhaps, while the other is for big government. While both will campaign for and would undoubtedly like to change things to better fit their world view, if you put both these parties into a government where each side is dependent on the other, then limited change is the best you can expect.
The Irish electorate left the extremists and ideologues on the Opposition benches in 2011, and most people with any sort of common sense were well able then to predict the course of the 31st Dáil.
We might surmise from Fintan O’Toole’s apparent surprise and dismay five years on that common sense is not among the strongest of his virtues. – Yours, etc,
JOHN THOMPSON,
Phibsboro, Dublin 7.