Madam, – Each candidate seeking to contest the presidential election and the county councillors and Oireachtas members who are adjudicating them should realise that the principal qualification to occupy this office is the capacity to be the statesman who can embody the spirit of this sophisticated, progressive, resilient nation. Our agile nation is not broken, or without hope, even if its spirit is tormented by economic turbulence.
The character of this office is not calling for a travelling salesman, a fixer taking on a "job of work", a therapist, a social change engineer, nor does it require an actor fit to play a role in The Bridges of Madison County.
It is particularly important at this early stage in the process for each aspirant to explain who they are, rather than what they are, or what they have been. If they fail to do so we shall never fully discern their humanity. We shall never understand how they became the person they present themselves as being, nor will we understand the significance of what motivates them to seek to become our head of State, or how likely they are to successfully conduct the Office of President. – Yours, etc,