Sir, – In the recent election, not one of the parties fielded enough candidates to reasonably expect to form a single-party government. As a consequence of this strange behaviour, no party can reasonably expect to have its entire mandate respected in any negotiations to form a government.
As far as I can discern, no party campaigned to spend the duration of this new Dáil on the Opposition benches.
It is clear that the scandal of homelessness, the cost of housing and rents, the problems associated with delivering proper healthcare and public services in a timely and humane fashion, are issues which the electorate chose to bring to the attention of those who would represent them.
Rather than cobble together a weak or minority coalition, it surely behoves Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and Fine Gael to form a strong coalition representing a clear majority of the electorate and so ensure that they can tackle those issues which they and most of the electorate agree are important.
Such a coalition would certainly be the “change” that we are repeatedly told the country voted for. It would give Sinn Féin the chance to be in government in the Republic (without the safety net it has in Stormont), and Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael can bring with them their wisdom and experience. So it’s time for the parties to stop this phoney war and get on with the job they have been given. And while I’m at it, let’s divide up the cabinet seats using the d’Hondt system! – Yours, etc,
MALACHY THOMPSON,
Renmore, Galway.
A chara, – Since Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have both ruled out Sinn Féin – and without getting into any argument about the rights or wrongs of this exclusion – this leaves the only option as Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, together with one or more of the smaller parties. There is general consensus that the electorate as a whole voted for change.
This was most clearly expressed in the dramatic rise in the Sinn Féin vote and in the significant increase in the Green Party vote.
The heretofore dominant duo of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael could only muster about 44 per cent of the vote between them. Any rejigging of these two parties, as in putting Fianna Fáil up front and Fine Gael in behind them, will look suspiciously like the government just gone out, where Fine Gael fronted and Fianna Fáil rode pillion. If the only result of all the shadow boxing and posturing that we are likely to see over the next number of weeks is Micheál Martin swapping seats with Leo Varadkar (or, worse still, the two of them taking turns in the taoiseach’s chair), a large percentage of the public will be likely to feel cheated.
One way of avoiding the perception of “same old same old” would be for the two larger parties to nominate the leader of the Greens – their preferred junior partners in any would-be coalition – for the office of taoiseach. This way they would be seen as putting the country before party interest, and recognising the clear mood for change expressed in the election. – Is mise,
JOHN GLENNON,
Hollywood,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – Reading some of the coverage of Sinn Féin in The Irish Times and other mainstream media outlets since the election, it is evident that blind panic has set in among the well-heeled overlords.
Faced with the prospect of Sinn Féin in government, Sinn Féin in opposition, or another general election, where it is widely predicted Sinn Féin will be returned with an even larger percentage of the vote, proponents of the status quo have reverted to type.
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael between them have had almost a century of uninterrupted opportunity to fix the problems plaguing Irish society. They both subscribe to more or less the same economic outlook, which increasing numbers of voters are rejecting.
Perhaps instead of engaging in surreal hysteria in front of the cameras and in the print media, they could come together and produce a programme for government which the people are crying out for, which could include a cradle-to-grave and free at the point of use health service for everyone, as well as the decomoditisation of house building so that house price fluctuation does not affect the number of new homes being built each year.
This is an opportunity for the centrists to prove they have the mettle to enact the sort of change demanded by the public. – Yours, etc,
CIAN CARLIN,
London.