Madam, – I am one of the many active citizens who not only takes pride in the fact that I exercise my hard-earned democratic right as a young, female European, tax-paying, public servant of the Irish State, but I also canvassed and had lengthy discussions on doorsteps about why people should vote. So imagine to my horror that on arriving at my polling station, the polling clerks refused to give me the correct ballot papers.
After insisting they check their manual they still gave me ballot papers only for the local and the European Elections, excluding me from the byelection.
I’m a British citizen and therefore excluded only from a referendum. I think the remedy for the future is to apply for Irish citizenship in time for what I hope is a soon enough general election. I suggest South Dublin County Council spends some time informing its paid polling clerks with the correct information.
Not only did I lose on my voting right, but I’m sorry that Alex White and Ivana Bacik missed out this time too. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Regarding recent local elections, a new slogan for FF: “Many gone, more to go”. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I am a “hereditary” Fine Gael voter. Over 70 years since the end of the Civil War, perhaps it is time that Ireland discovered a political ideology that is not based on a phoney and outmoded bipolar hatred. What better time is there in the global context for Ireland to forge a new political culture and rid itself of the “old hatreds”?
With the greatest of respect, I now suggest that both the Fine Gael and Labour parties find a way to come together and found a new party for a New Ireland. Both ideologies could be honoured and at last Ireland might be able to move away from “The Horrors of the 20th century”? How about a new political party called for example “The Democratic Alliance”, which has a fundamental ethos to do the right thing for the majority of this great country’s citizens, not the right thing for the privileged few? When I suggested this outrageous idea to friends and family, most agreed on the principle, but all agreed that it could never happen. This is exactly why it should. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The catchphrase of the past decade “the Celtic Tiger” has been replaced by the Government’s constant use of the phrase “we will make the tough decisions”. Fianna Fáil and the Green party blame these “tough decisions” on their poor performance in the recent elections. A cut in overseas aid, abandonment of a specialised cystic fibrosis unit, scrapping of cervical vaccination programme, cutting of special needs teachers, limiting old age medical cards, etc. The list goes on.
These were not tough decisions. “Short-sighted” and “a cheap shot at the most vulnerable” would be more appropriate phrases and this is why they polled so poorly and will continue to do so until they are replaced in government. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Breffni Lynch (June 9th June), in congratulating Ireland on favouring left-wing candidates over the right-wing candidates chosen by much of the rest of Europe, fails to understand that the economic policies of the far right and the far left are identical. For instance the BNP in Britain is anti-globalisation, favours tariffs and trade barriers, the breaking up of the monopolies held by the supermarket giants, the nationalisation of public resources and key industries, and the creation of co-operative schemes in order to “give British workers a stake in the success and prosperity of the enterprises whose profits their labour creates”.
The description of these parties as being “far-right” is a holdover from 1930s France, and a detailed examination of their economic policies places nearly all of them firmly on the left, somewhere between Sinn Féin and Joe Higgins’s Socialist Party.
It is clear that any swing in Europe was towards protectionist economic policies, not towards fascism. – Yours, etc,