Madam, - I am still thinking about a Fine Gael councillor saying on radio that he had decided for the sake of democracy to back Dana Rosemary Scallan's nomination as a presidential candidate. But he reversed that decision at the behest of his party.
And once again I have the uneasy sense of living in a State which is not so much democratic as party-cratic; where contingency expedients such as the party-whip system are permanently in place, to be activated whenever the danger is perceived that democracy could be about to break out. - Yours, etc.,
FRED O'CALLAGHAN,
Clonkeen Road,
Deansgrange,
Co Dublin.
*****
A chara, - The many people attacking "the political establishment" for failure to hold a presidential election should note that President McAleese put herself forward as a candidate, and three parties (Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Progressive Democrats) stated clearly that they were supporting her, as they are perfectly entitled to do. To suggest that they should have facilitated an opponent is just lunacy and the talk of the politically naïve.
It is the Labour Party which declared it was opposed to her, and so the onus was clearly on it to nominate someone else to trigger an election, particularly as it had the numbers in the Dáil to do so.
Complaints about lack of backbone and democratic deficits should be addressed to Pat Rabbitte, not the President or the parties who supported her. - Is mise,
DAVID CARROLL,
Castle Gate,
Dublin 2.