Madam, - On offer in Ireland this summer are 166 plum jobs. The good news is that canvassing does not disallow. Basic salary is €90,000 plus expenses. The successful candidates will not be overworked, as their place of work functioned for only 60 days last year.
Qualifications for the job are hazy, but if you get caught telling an untruth, an expensive tribunal may ensue. Holding clinics, writing letters, promising fresh strawberries in November are part of the daily life of the politician. Sixty or so unsuccessful candidates may hibernate in Seanad Éireann for the life of the Dáil. What work they do is debatable, but it is a nice little earner - €70,000 approximately.
In general our politicians work hard but when they vacate the political stage, we tend to forget them. We could count on one hand people who left a mark. Noel Browne, who rid this country of the scourge of TB; Donogh O'Malley, who had the vision to introduce free second-level education; Mary Harney, who as a junior minister got rid of the smog in Dublin; and Micheál Martin, who brought in the smoking ban. Des O'Malley had the guts to ask: "Do we need the Senate?" - Yours, etc,
TED CADOGAN, Skibbereen, Co Cork.