Sir, - The results of the recent election made it depressingly obvious that the "parish pump" is still a very potent element in Irish politics . H ard work at national or international level is no guarantee of re-election unless it can be combined with "constituency work", which is a euphemism for the holding of clinics and attendance at every local dog-fight.
An equally depressing factor is the extent to which it now seems to be accepted that one of the functions of a Cabinet Minister is to bring goodies to his/her own constituency and that those who fail to do so run the grave risk of not being re-elected. Surely the resources of the State should be deployed for the benefit of all the people and not just for those who happen to have a representative at the Cabinet table.
The whole scenario, including yet another low turnout, does not augur well for the future of the body politic. Therefore it is to be hoped that the proposal for electoral reform in the Programme for Government will be translated into positive action. Prior to the election, Mr Noel Dempsey put forward proposals for single seat constituencies with a single transferable vote (combined with a list system). While the lukewarm response which his proposals evoked at the time was not very encouraging, there must be grounds for optimism that he will be much more successful in the future, bearing in mind that he is now Minister for the Environment. I wish him well in his efforts. - Yours, etc.
Silchester Park,
Glenageary,
Co Dublin.