Sir,– I see former minister Cllr Mary Hanafin has been added to the Fianna Fáil ticket in Dún Laoghaire (September 30th). Ms Hanafin finished second to Cllr Cormac Devlin at the party's selection convention and was beaten by four votes. Given the fact that Dún Laoghaire (a four-seater) will be effectively a three-seater at the next election, as sitting TD and Ceann Comhairle Sean Barrett will be automatically returned to the Dáil, it is difficult to see the logic behind the strategy. There's no way there are two Fianna Fáil seats in the constituency. Indeed, I doubt if there's even one! So why run two candidates and risk splitting the vote, with the distinct possibility of neither candidate winning a seat?
Would Cormac Devlin have been added to the party ticket if the result at the convention had been the other way around? – Yours, etc,
PAUL DELANEY,
Dalkey,
Co Dublin.