A chara, – A Leavy (letters,October 1st) asserts that Ireland has "more politicians relative to its own population than comparable countries". Not so.
The Dáil with 158 members is not out of step with the number of deputies in the national parliaments of Slovakia (150), Croatia (151), Norway (169), Denmark (179) or Finland (200).
He also ignores the fact that local government is much stronger in most other countries and that we have one of the highest ratios of councillor to population. In Ireland, we have one councillor for every 4,800 people compared to 1:1,700 in the Netherlands and 1:800 in Belgium. (Even in larger countries, the ratio is lower – 1:2,900 in the UK and 1:120 in France, for example). Yes, Denmark does not have a second chamber but it has a councillor for every 1,200 people and their councillors have far more powers than the ones here.
The issue should not be primarily about how many politicians we have but about how effective they and the chambers in which they sit are in achieving the results we desire as a society.
That said, a populist call to reduce the number of politicians will not necessarily improve our democracy and may actually take decision-making further away from the people. – Is mise,
Cllr MALCOLM BYRNE,
Gorey, Co Wexford.