Sir, – A Leavy says that Ireland "has more politicians relative to its population than comparable countries" (March 22nd). Why is this absolute canard repeated ad nauseam?
It is certainly true that European countries of a similar size to Ireland have fewer national politicians than we do, but the reason for this is because they have vast, powerful and well-funded systems of local government which we simply to not have in Ireland.
Denmark, for example, has 98 local authorities and 2,500 local councillors.
Finland has 304 local authorities and just under 10,000 local councillors. And Norway has 423 local authorities and 12,000 local councillors. Ireland, in stark contrast, has 32 local authorities and 950 councillors.
In these Scandinavian countries, national parliaments were gradually reduced in size in line with increases in the size and power of local government.
In Ireland, however, all levels of government were slashed simultaneously in 2014 with the abolition of six Dáil seats, all town councils, and 700 council seats. Far from having more politicians than comparable countries, this has left Ireland as one of the most under-represented democracies in the western world.
This has resulted in more power being concentrated in the hands of a smaller number of people, namely the government of the day.
The reprehensible proposal to abolish the Seanad, which was defeated at the ballot box, would only have exacerbated this problem even further. – Yours, etc,
BARRY WALSH,
Clontarf,
Dublin 3.