Sir, – Instead of feeling they are bound by history, why don’t Enda Kenny and Micheál Martin make history? – Yours, etc,
DECLAN CARTY,
Sandymount,
Dublin 4.
Sir, – I used to believe that the first ambition of a politician was to get elected and the second was to be in government. The class of 2016 seems to want to achieve the first and ignore the second. – Yours, etc,
ELIZABETH FARRELL,
Celbridge,
Co Wexford.
Sir, – From “minister without portfolio” to “portfolio without minister”. – Yours, etc,
K GORMAN,
Maynooth,
Co Kildare.
Sir, – To all those chafing at the bit over the formation of a new government, I am reminded of a saying of my late mother – “Act in haste repent at leisure”. – Yours, etc,
MAURICE CURTIN,
Cork.
Sir, – If the current negotiations fail to produce a government, the alternative to a new general election is an interim national unity government. As Jeremy Thorpe said, “the country is going down the drain and they are squabbling about the size of the plughole”.
We the people will know who to select in the next election based on individual and party performances in this interim government. – Yours, etc,
JOE DUNNE,
Shanakiel,
Cork.
Sir, – The recent election saw 100 TDs elected whose campaigns were based on opposing the outgoing Fine Gael/Labour coalition. It would seem strange that some of those TDs would see fit to support a Fine Gael minority government having campaigned to oust it. The Labour Party’s experience may be informative.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael expects Fianna Fáil to support a minority government while ruling out Fine Gael supporting a Fianna Fáil minority government.
Arrogance? – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL D LAWLOR,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – The country is facing a difficult situation as a result of the unrealistic expectations created during the election campaign.
Because of our massive national debt, we are also still very vulnerable to adverse international events. We will require stable and responsible government in the perilous years ahead.
It pains me to say so but our only hope of getting this is from a Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil coalition. It may be in neither party’s long-term interest but the country should come first. Each of them made an unfortunate election promise which they will find difficult to go back on – Fine Gael to abolish the USC, and Fianna Fáil to abolish Irish Water.
As part of a compromise they both need to pull back from these positions and hammer out sensible solutions on these two important issues.
The electorate will, however, demand that a price be paid for the broken promises. I suggest that price should be the heads of Enda Kenny and Micheál Martin as party leaders. – Yours, etc,
TED McSWEENEY,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.
A chara, – May I suggest a way to incentivise our politicians to form a government? If TDs fail to elect a taoiseach and government when they next assemble, their pay and allowances could be suspended until they succeed.
After all, they are doing nothing in the interim to serve the electorate.
Acting Ministers (and the Taoiseach) should meanwhile be paid the minimum wage, letting them experience for themselves how many in this country have to live.
This might lend some urgency toward ending the present posturing. – Is mise,
RONÁN CORVIN,
Maigh Cuilinn,
Co Galway.