Sir, – There is nobody like Fintan O’Toole in a comprehensive rant. His most recent is a classic of the genre (“Ireland’s governing philosophy is learned helplessness – and it is getting worse,” April 21st).
Everything he says is correct but he misses the one essential change we need to become a properly “adult” state.
The way we elect our TDs has a fundamental flaw. Multi-seat PR-STV, as implemented here, is probably the purest form of democracy but is impractical if the expectation is good, forward planning government.
The hyperlocal nature of the 43 separate and independent constituency elections creates a cohort of well-intentioned TDs gazing backwards (for their own survival) at their constituents for ongoing approval and an eye only for the next election. We need to change and we need to be courageous about the decisions we must take if we want to have a fairer country for everybody. – Yours, etc,
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Dr John Donovan,
Sandyford,
Dublin.
Sir, – It is difficult to disagree with any aspect of Fintan O’Toole’s analysis of Government, especially its populism and its craven submission to every interest group. He identifies the collapse of the two-party system as a key factor in our governance problem with the shared power structure creating a “half-government”.
Perhaps he could devote a column in the near future explaining how it will be different under any alternative government involving a coalition of multiple parties of the left and the arch-populist Sinn Féin?
Your columnist has spent so long correctly identifying the problems in his weekly column that I would welcome hearing his realistic alternative solution. – Yours, etc,
DAVID LOUGHLIN,
Rathmines,
Dublin 6.
