A chara, – I read in your newspaper that Senator Averil Power, a 36-year-old woman, has resigned from Fianna Fail due to lack of support for her proposed candidature in the forthcoming general election and a similar lack of support from party colleagues relating to the marriage equality referendum. In the same newspaper, it is reported that Dr Martin Mansergh, a 67-year-old man, has decided to put his name forward as a possible Fianna Fáil candidate in the same election. Plus ça change? – Is mise,
MAIREAD LAHER,
Monkstown,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Averil Power’s assertion that Micheál Martin did not campaign hard enough on the marriage equality referendum is ludicrous. At the Fianna Fáil ardfheis in April, he finished his televised speech by urging people to vote Yes.
In a democratic society, members of a party have the right to vote any way they so wish in a referendum; as was the case in all the other parties, some members voted No.
However, true to his word, Mr Martin did much to mobilise the Yes vote.
I doubt that Ms Power would have been elected a senator without the support of Micheál Martin. She failed to win a seat for the party in the 2011 general election and cannot seriously have expected that she should be the only Fianna Fáil candidate contesting the Dublin Bay North Constituency. – Yours, etc,
JOHN MURRAY,
Old Parish,
Dungarvan,
Co Waterford.
A chara, – As Averil Power was elected to the Seanad as a Fianna Fáil candidate, she should resign her seat and put herself up for election, as an Independent. – Is mise,
MICHAEL A CARROLL,
Mount Merrion,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – When Róisín Shortall resigned from the Labour Party, a well-known political correspondent referred to her action as a “hissy fit”. I wonder will he use the same words to describe Senator Averil Power’s decision? – Yours, etc,
LOUIS O’FLAHERTY,
Dublin 9.
Sir, – The criticisms levelled by Senator Averil Power against Fianna Fáil in her resignation speech could equally be applied to the other political parties. When campaigning for a ban on hare-coursing over the years I’ve seen proof of this. A TD I once called told me, in a calm, friendly tone, after much waffling and batting the breeze, “I’m against hare-coursing and all that but, you know, I’m not going to lose my seat over a bloody hare.”
Averil Power has, incidentally, spoken out against hare-coursing in the Seanad, unlike a single one of her Fianna Fáil parliamentary party colleagues. We need more people like her in Irish politics. – Yours, etc,
JOHN FITZGERALD,
Callan,
Co Kilkenny.