Sir, - Sean Healy (Opinion, October 17th) writes of "the failure of the political process to address our problems', as if it were the process and not the politics that is at fault.
The notion that somehow, irrespective of policies and political support base, we can all sit down together and achieve consensus is the very reason that many of our problems have not been tackled in the first place. Real political choice has seldom been reflected in the cushy and safe reporting of who will go into Government with whom, and who will get what job being the focus of most "leading commentators". Lack of real power for the Oireachtas, lack of any power for local government and lack of real analysis by many of the media commentators have all brought the process, not politics, into question.
If we are to have meaningful participation in civic society the first place to start might be local government. The best start there would be the dumping of the new Local Government Bill, which in 208 pages manages to transfer two additional powers to local authorities.
Of course transferring power to these democratically elected bodies might mean less power for some of the self-appointed participants in social partnership. - Yours, etc.,
Cllr Dermot Lacey, Beech Hill Drive, Donnybrook, Dublin 4.