Sir, - At last, a journalist has dared to suggest that the emperor might have no clothes! Nuala O'Faolain had the courage (Irish Times, August 11th) to take the road less travelled and suggest that John Hume might not be the natural successor to Mary Robinson. In spite of the manner in which his suitability is being hyped by the political parties in this State, the fact remains that the choice of John Hume is almost as daft as the suggestion that Rosemary Brown might be selected as our first citizen.
While I admire his ability and achievements as a politician in the backwoods of Northern Ireland, John Hume is not the person to represent the citizens of our modern Republic. We have succeeded over the last number of years in projecting an image to the world which is divorced from the dreary, backward, tribal society of our Northern neighbours, and good public representatives like Mary Robinson have played their part in this public relations job. John Hume is known on the world stage for his links with that troubled society and his election or selection would be bad for our image. Our image is linked to things like our popularity as a tourist destination, to our prosperity and to our self esteem. We don't need a Northern politician, even a good one, as Head of State.
We should also be conscious of the signals we are giving to the Unionist community in the North if we persist in chasing Mr Hume for the job. We are reinforcing what they always said they feared in respect of Articles 2 and 3 and our attempts to stampede them into a United Ireland. Bad timing!
Most of the people I have spoken to in the last few days about this whole presidential debate are of the opinion that we should be confident enough in ourselves as a nation to find a suitable candidate within our own borders. I can think of several: Carmencita Hederman, Michael D. Higgins, David Andrews or Nuala O'Faolain are all people I would be happy to see represent this country at international level. Even the sad attempt by Fine Gael to produce a Mary Robinson clone has washed up one reasonable candidate in the person of Mary Banotti.
The real reason for the hype of John Hume is patently obvious to the ordinary person in the street. The political parties have just come through one election and do not want another for the Presidency. The easy solution is therefore to agree a candidate from outside the State. We got our own President last time in spite of the politicians and they didn't like it very much. Now they want the old ways back. - Yours, etc.,
John Mulligan,
Ballymagillan, Co Meath.