Sir, – It was reported recently that a congressman in the United States House of Representatives, 25-year-old Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, sent a note to Republican colleagues in which he said: “I have built my staff around comms [communications] rather than legislation.”
I can’t help but feel that politicians and political parties here in Ireland are taking a leaf out of his book. The coached answers and prepared talking points we hear daily are reminiscent of a Leaving Certificate student sitting an Irish or French oral examination.
PR firms are working around the clock to produce “content” for social media and are retained at great expense to spin away gaffes and mistakes.
The priority of our elected representatives, it seems, is to be portrayed positively (or at least not negatively) in the media and online.
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Their second focus is to attack rivals and to portray them negatively in the media and online.
Meanwhile, any real political discourse and legislative action are lost in the midst of a big game of “he said, she said”. The Americanisation of Irish politics continues. – Yours, etc,
ALFIE FITZGERALD,
Dalkey,
Co Dublin.