Sir, – Stephen Collins seems to be consumed with fear at the prospect of a surge in support for Independents, Sinn Féin and smaller parties at the next general election ("New party will fuel narrative that all is to change – utterly", Opinion & Analysis, January 3rd). He believes voters who consider the consequences of such a result may come to their senses and "pull back from the brink", instead of landing the country in apparent "political chaos".
Mr Collins obviously has not given thought to the view advanced by one Minister in an article in the same paper, “Varadkar sees splintering of support”. Mr Varadkar predicts the fragmentation of Irish politics at the next election, similar to the situation which exists in the Benelux and Nordic countries, where no party has anything close to an overall majority. However, even a country like Belgium, which went five months without a government last year, did not experience the “political chaos” to which Mr Collins refers.
Mr Collins needs to stop giving the impression that such a vast chasm exists between the views of our main political parties. Is he not aware that Sinn Féin has just agreed a deal in the North which will result in the privatisation of many public assets and a mass layoff of public servants? Despite many of the party’s slogans, Mr Collins must accept that Sinn Féin’s populist appeal is put to one side once government beckons.
What Mr Collins fails to address is the constraints which the EU will impose on any future government, between the deficit break, the debt-to-GDP ratio and the proposed banking union. On closer inspection, the choices available to voters in this country at the next election do not offer any real alternative. Those who really pull the strings over in Brussels have the eventualities covered. – Yours, etc,
SEÁN Ó DEORÁIN,
Clondalkin, Dublin 22.