Sir, – Daniel Griffin (July 21st) says that "the last thing we need is another Dáil" yet he supports "a reformed . . . Seanad where every citizen can determine its membership". That to me looks like another Dáil.
An even worse aspect of the “reforms” being proposed is that they include votes for people in Northern Ireland and emigrants, none of whom would have to pay taxes to fund the decisions made.
Despite denials from the insider elite, who benefit from the situation, we have too many politicians relative to our population.
Information that is available publicly states that Ireland has one politician in the Oireachtas (Dáil and Seanad) for every 20,200 people in the population.
The comparable figure for similar countries with governments comprising two houses like our Dáil and Seanad varies from 32,800 in Austria to 74,350 in the Netherlands.
The comparable figure for the similar-sized countries which have just one single house of parliament varies from 25,900 people per politician in Finland to 45,920 in Portugal.
If Ireland were to abolish the Seanad it would still have a politician for every 27,640 people in the population.
Yet the great and the good in media, academia and politics defend the millions being spent on retention of the Seanad in a country in which, because of its recent bankrupt and its present overborrowed state, is having difficulty funding its most basic public services. – Yours, etc,
A LEAVY,
Sutton, Dublin 13.