COLM MAC EOCHAIDH,
Sir, - As a Fine Gael candidate in the recent election, I was disappointed to learn that the parliamentary party has decided to proceed with an early election for a new leader.
Michael Noonan, who led the party with great dignity in the recent campaign, has repeatedly stated that he is willing to remain in situ as long as the party requests. He is perfectly suited to leading an in-house review to discern the future direction of the party.
A consultative process involving active party members and supporter should commence immediately, and the leadership campaign should be conducted alongside.
At all costs, no leader should be selected until the party has looked into its soul and has some idea of what path it should now travel. A leader elected prior to such a process may lack credibility. The party may decide to turn left, right, or - my preference - to reject these dated polemics of political debate and instead claim the radical centre.
Whatever the outcome of a deliberative process, the new leader must genuinely reflect the future of the party as chosen by the grass roots.
Members of Fine Gael in Dublin South East unanimously adopted a motion last Monday calling on the parliamentary party to postpone the election of a leader and I hope that our voices will be heeded. - Yours, etc.,
COLM MAC EOCHAIDH, Hotel Hiberia, Via Quottrocento Maggio, Rome.
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Sir, - Among the quiddities emerging from the general election results, your readers (and pub quizmasters everywhere) may care to note the following.
1. The number of first-preference votes required for success varied widely, depending on party affiliation, transfer patterns, and the type of constituency involved. You could, for example, if you were a Fianna Fáil candidate in the Taoiseach's constituency (Dermot Fitzpatrick), achieve electoral success with the modest total of 2,592 first preferences.
If, however, you had the bad luck to be a Labour Party candidate in Kerry North (Dick Spring), you could rack up no fewer than 8,773 first-preference votes and still find yourself among the also-rans. In fact, every one of the 42 constituencies had a candidate elected to the Dáil with a lower first-preference vote than Dick Spring achieved, and some had more than one.
2. The quota also varied between constituencies, sometimes by a huge factor. The highest (excluding Carlow/Kilkenny, where the figure is distorted by the fact that the Ceann Comhairle sits for the constituency) was Meath (10,681), the lowest Dublin South East (6,487).
This reflects a structural element in our electoral system, which, according to the Constitution, distributes seats not on the base of the density of the electorate, but on the basis of the density of the population (no pun intended).
Within the level of tolerance permitted by the Supreme Court, therefore, the quota will reflect the age structure of the constituency concerned: constituencies with higher quotas will tend to be those where the electorate is a higher proportion of the total population, i.e. older. - Yours etc.,
JOHN HORGAN, Dublin 1.