‘50 years of the Healy-Rae dynasty’

Sir, – Your feature on the Healy-Raes (”50 years of the Healy-Rae dynasty: Flat caps, populist politics and hard work,Politics, February 10th) mentions the family’s remarkable work ethic and mastery of public relations, but fails, I think, to mention the third leg of the stool: the Republic of Ireland’s utterly unique parliamentary electoral system. Malta uses a broadly similar system but it has had less than a handful of “Independent” legislators in recent decades.

In the 50 years the Healy-Raes have graced our political system, Dáil Éireann has gone from having two Independent TDs to having more than two dozen. Recent electoral changes make a Dáil seat attainable to a candidate with less than two-thirds of a per cent of the national vote, so we could be looking at having at least one Independent (or “micro-party”) TD elected in every constituency at the next general election.

It’s a matter of opinion, I suppose, whether this “Independent success story” in Irish politics best equips the legislature to serve the interests of the people as a whole. – Yours, etc,

DES GUNNING,