Sir, – Gay Mitchell's comment that he "would be positively disposed towards Ireland joining the Commonwealth if that was the price of a united Ireland (Home News report on debate hosted by Today FM and The Last Wordpresenter Matt Cooper, October 12th) raises an important point.
If and when the European project collapses or fragments, Ireland could find itself isolated internationally. The country would need to strengthen its links with our closest neighbours – Britain and Northern Ireland – and with the members of the Commonwealth, which contains a huge and growing Irish Diaspora and with whom we already have deep economic, political and cultural links.
In that context it would certainly be advantageous to have a president open to the idea of Irish membership of the Commonwealth. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – With reference to Bernie O’Donoghue Hynes’s letter (October 12th), I also received campaign literature from three of the candidates.
There are four of us voting in our household, and we received three leaflets each – that makes 12 through my letterbox.
From Gay Mitchell, my husband and I received the one about Mr Mitchell’s record, and our two sons received the “volunteer” one and the “economic stability” one. I doubt very much there is any stereotyping involved here; the only issue I have is that there should have been a single leaflet (containing all this information) per household. As for the other two candidates, we received one leaflet with all the information, times four. Having them addressed to each of us doesn’t make it personal. It makes it a waste. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – With all the candidates making various hollow promises if and when they get elected, can I say that the first candidate that can get a sunny day for us up here in Donegal will get my vote. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Might I proffer a modest proposal in respect of elections to any political office in the Republic in future? It is that legislation be introduced requiring candidates to have been resident within the State for, say, five years (roughly the equivalent of a Dáil term in recent history) prior to contesting an election. This would demonstrate some measure of commitment to the State, its institutions and citizenry before presenting oneself and one’s solutions to the electorate. – Yours, etc,
A chara, – Ryan Tubridy, Fintan O’Toole and others in the Southern media have seen fit to view Martin McGuinness’s candidacy only as an opportunity to delve into the very lowest common denominator of the Republican side of the war over the North. Yet they refuse to accord successive British and unionist dignitaries the same discourtesy by abstaining from questioning them about British complicity with loyalist paramilitaries, targeting of nationalist activists, censoring of democratically elected representatives of the nationalist community or many other violations of human and civil rights. I want to make clear that this is not an anti-British nor an anti-Unionist diatribe. Instead, it is a plea for all parties, North and South, British and Irish, nationalist and unionist, bereaved and untouched, to view Mr McGuinness’s bid for the presidency as a reminder of just how far we have come in the ultimate goal of accommodating the rights, dreams and aspirations of all of the citizens of the Six Counties.
A chara, – Martin McGuinness had no plausible answers when challenged in Athlone by David Kelly. The 1983 kidnapping of Don Tidey was for the purpose of extracting a ransom to finance the Provo murder campaign as well as to fund the electoral ambitions of the likes of McGuinness. – Is mise,
Sir, – I was very disappointed to see Michael D Higgins’s statement that extending the vote for the presidential election to people living in the North was a matter for the constitutional convention (Home News, October 12th).
Article 12 of Bunreacht na hÉireann states “Every citizen who has the right to vote at an election for members of Dáil Éireann shall have the right to vote at an election for President”, and Article 16 states that “All citizens, and such other persons in the State as may be determined by law, without distinction of sex who have reached the age of eighteen years who are not disqualified by law and comply with the provisions of the law relating to the election of members of Dáil Éireann, shall have the right to vote at an election for members of Dáil Éireann.” The Constitution isn’t the reason that Irish citizens who live outside the Republic don’t have a vote in Dáil, Seanad or presidential elections. The restrictions are in the “provisions of the law relating to the election of members of Dáil Éireann” and those laws can be changed without the need for constitutional amendment, if there was the political will to do so.
It seems fairly obvious that there isn’t political will to address this issue, and Mr Higgins’s weasel words on the matter don’t reflect well on him. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – There has been something of a media frenzy of late, including in your own columns, trying to associate Martin McGuinness with a number of serious crimes and to undermine his truthfulness with respect to them.
Significantly, none of the contributors have actually produced evidence sufficient to establish even a case to answer in a court. Interestingly, there was a similar episode some years ago when elements in the media reported British intelligence to the effect that Martin McGuinness fired the first shot on Bloody Sunday; an allegation that he always denied. It took 12 years and about £200 million for the Saville Inquiry to establish the truth about Bloody Sunday, which included the fact that McGuinness was telling the truth. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Presidential candidate Dana snipes at Presidential candidate Michael D Higgins re his views on abortion. But has Dana thought this problem through? What would “president” Dana do if a Bill was referred to her that stated under what strict conditions an abortion would be legal?
She could either sign it, refer it to the Supreme Court and put up with the unchallengable consequences or resign as president if the Bill was against her core beliefs.
I am not sniping at her, as I see this as a serious problem that is bound to arise in the future in somebody’s presidency. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – As one who has contributed to and enjoyed the RTÉ Drivetime programme for many years, I was very concerned by the tone and content of the interview broadcast last week with Mary Davis. In particular, it was quite absurd to imply that Ms Davis should not be on the board of the ICS Building Society (a subsidiary of the Bank of Ireland) since she had little or no banking experience. On the contrary, people with a much wider range of experience and expertise, like Ms Davis, are essential on such boards. All of us now know that the gentlemen (and very few women) with extensive banking experience and little else have all but ruined our country. As a significant sponsor of the Special Olympic Games in Ireland in 2003 and fully aware of her remarkable work as CEO, it is hardly surprising that the Bank of Ireland invited her to join the ICS Board.
I am not involved in Ms Davis’s campaign for the presidency. However, I am chairperson of the National Institute for Intellectual Disability (NIID), based in Trinity College and Ms Davis played a key role in its establishment and success over the past decade. In an entirely voluntary capacity and without remuneration of any kind she has worked tirelessly with me, colleagues in Trinity and other external representatives to ensure that people with intellectual disabilities would have access to third level education throughout Ireland and be fully included in the wider society. Without her advice and skills, the NIID, which is now admired world-wide, would not have made such progress. – Yours, etc,