Sir, – The referendum has been passed by a wide margin and the legislature will now presumably move to execute on legislative change. There has been much comment about turnout, and an air of self-congratulation in some quarters. We should note, however, that since the general election of 2016, the total electorate has increased by over 60,000, yet the number of votes recorded were basically the same in both polls. Fewer people voted last Friday than voted in the general election of 2011, despite an approximate 200,000 increase in the electorate. While acknowledging the complexity of the issue in front of us last week, over a third of the population declined to participate.
Ireland is in the privileged position of being ranked in the top ten of global democracies by the Economist Intelligence Unit, yet it seems as if we now accept over a third of the population deciding to stay home on election days.
The dangers are obvious, but as they will only be experienced over the medium to long term, they are not immediately tangible. If a third of us stay at home, those seeking political self-interest will know that they will only need to persuade an increasingly smaller element of the population to accumulate power.
The fragmented nature of our politics, and low turnout, means that in the last two general elections, the party that has supplied the taoiseach accumulated first preference votes of 25 per cent and 16 per cent of the electorate respectively.
Electoral participation is our most effective defence against any unacceptable deployment of the power of the State – yet turnout continues to fall. We should not be complacent. – Yours, etc,
IAN HEADON,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.