Madam, – The tallymen of old will one day be replaced. The paper and pen will be replaced by mobiles connected to the web and other contraptions. Electronic voting has not gone away, only the machines have. Perhaps these changes will happen when Eamon de Valera’s old wish comes true and Fianna Fáil can replace proportional representation by first-past-the-post.
But until that grand day comes, can we tallywomen get more than the odd mention? Maybe we should change the name of tallyman to tally-being, or tally-self, tally-individual, tally-someone or tally-anyone?
Given the collapse of support for the Greens and Fianna Fáil, they might be in favour of the term tally-anyone. For they would surely prefer to be tallying anyone other than their own parties. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – It is to this country’s credit that while Europe generally swings to the right that our elections have witnessed the widespread success of left-wing candidates. However, I find myself growing disillusioned at the response from these candidates to their success. In their post-election comments Eamon Gilmore, Joe Higgins and Richard Boyd Barrett make reference to their election being a victory for “the ordinary worker”, the “ordinary decent worker” and, most superfluously, the “ordinary decent working man on the street”. Phew.
I voted for Labour, and Joe Higgins definitely benefited from one of my transfers. But I do not consider myself to be ordinary. I have ambition and I hope that, from time to time, I bring something extraordinary to lives of the people I know. My father, a PAYE worker all his life, is an extraordinary man. My wife, one of the smartest and most determined people I know, is extraordinary. Are we to be excluded from their new Ireland? The dreams and hopes I have for my six-week-old son, born on the cusp of the most dramatic elections in modern Irish history, are not “ordinary”. I hope that he grows up in an Ireland where extraordinary ambition, ability and talent are valued qualities and are not something to be feared. Messrs Gilmore, Higgins and Barrett do their electorate a great disservice when they continuously understate our value in this country as being “ordinary”. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – David Hickie (June 10th) asks whether Fine Gael and Labour councillors will be more responsible in planning matters than Fianna Fáil. Is there any land left which hasn’t been zoned for “development”? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – May I suggest that the legacy of the late Tony Gregory TD is the victory of Maureen O’Sullivan in Dublin Central against all predictions. The legacy of 12 years of Fianna Fáil in power is big business and bad Government. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Dermot Ahern dismisses George Lee a “celebrity candidate”. What would he term Fianna Fáil’s recent attempt to get Packie Bonner to stand for the European elections? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Mark Hennessy says in his assessment of the position of the Green Party (Elections 2009, June 9th) that we must reinvent ourselves “now that so much of their agenda has been cherry-picked by political opponents.” If there were another party in this State which understood the basic economic principle that we must not live beyond the planet’s means, our work would be done. However, that is far from being the case. In fact, it is hard to think of a single TD from another party who has made living within the earth’s resources a guiding principle of economic policy. This is despite all the scientific evidence that taking a subprime loan from the planet which we cannot repay, will have absolutely devastating economic and social consequences.
Nothing would please us more than for another party to espouse our principles and carry them through into policy, but none has given the slightest indication that it intends to do so. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The news that Fianna Fáil is going to modernise “the organisation” over the next three years raises a question. Do they think there was some deficiency in how they conveyed their message? The Irish electorate got it loud and clear. It’s what Fianna Fáil representatives do rather than how they do it that needs reform. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I note that Brian Cowen has stated the Fianna Fáil party needs to reorganise to be “fit for purpose”. I wonder what purpose that might be, as none in the party have proven to be worthy servants of the people. To hold a vote of confidence in itself within the confines of the discredited Dáil must be the utmost cynicism.
It is high time honour and integrity was re-introduced to Irish politics, as it has been sadly absent these last years. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Regarding Fintan 0’Toole’s article on Fianna Fáil- Fine Gael’s inability to get their candidates elected to South Dublin County Council in the Tallaght Area (Opinion, June 9th), I would like to point out they each got two seats in the election. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – In the present economic climate we should always acknowledge the efforts of those engaged in job creation. Therefore please step forward whoever made the decision that local and European ballot papers should be placed in the same ballot box. The consequent need to separate the papers was clearly a well-devised scheme. – Yours,etc,
KEVIN O’SULLIVAN,
Ballyraine Park,
Letterkenny,
Co Donegal.
Madam, – Enda Kenny said the Government had lost the confidence of the people based on the wrong choices it made, not because of the tough decisions it was forced to make. How many “wrong choices” does Mr Kenny think he would have made if he had been faced with such decisions? When was the last time Mr Kenny led a government through a recession and kept everyone perfectly content? – Yours, etc,