Madam, - Joe Patton (August 15th) complains about the "mediocre¨ standard of many of our TDs". I agree that many of TDs are unsuited to running the country. To be elected and keep a seat under the single transferrable vote PR system that we use, it seems one needs to be an expert at arranging people's false teeth, getting pot holes filled and being a comfort at funerals, among other things.
We really need our TDs to be good managers, particularly at spending money effectively, innovating and delivering services. To get more people with these qualities to enter politic we must change the way we elect our TD. Preferably we should adopt some form of list system, as used in other parts of Europe. This would allow many of those who have the expertise to run a modern country, but who are put off by the false teeth circuit, to enter politics.
It would also allow us to reduce the number of TDs. - Yours, etc,
ROBERT HALLIGAN, Sroughan, Lacken, Co Wicklow.
Madam, - I disagree with Joe Patton's proposal to halve the number of TDs in the Dáil (August 15th). The number of our TDs, together with our multi-seat PR electoral system, results in a more representative democracy than alternative systems do. It gives more say to ordinary people and less to political party apparatchiks than the first-past-the-post elections of the UK or the list system used Germany - the two countries cited by Mr Patton.
But the women are grossly under-represented. Despite the female majority in the electorate, a mere 13 per cent of Dáil representatives are women.
Neither a reduction in the numbers to a more competent few, as Joe Patton would wish, nor an increase in the number of women TDs, as advocated by me, will get rid of human frailty from the Dáil. But let us rejoice that we have a parliamentary democracy. Let us also rejoice that our electoral system ensures that, because of their numbers, our public representatives are reasonably accessible. We can complain to them and take them to task to their faces if we so desire.
When we look at many parts of the world the availability of that kind of power to ordinary citizens is priceless and we should not take it for granted. - Yours, etc,
A. LEAVY, Shielmartin Drive, Sutton, Dublin 13.