Madam, - In such difficult times as these, one can only welcome, commentary such as Elaine Byrne's column of December 23rd, in which she challenges this country's intellectual passivity. She finishes by asking: "Should we introduce a new electoral system? One which produces national parliamentarians instead of provincial ombudsmen?"
The present system of multi-seat, single transferable vote PR, where candidates are in competition even with members of their own party, produces a politics so concerned with electoral survival that all else becomes subsidiary to buttering up the voter. The politician becomes in essence a salesman, with himself or herself as the sole product.
However, good ideas deserve to be accompanied by a reasonable amount of historical accuracy. Ms Byrne's comparison of emigration levels in the first 40 years of independence to the immediate aftermath of the Famine is not justified. Emigration levels in the first 40 years of independence were approximately at the same level as during the 40 years before independence. - Yours, etc,