Sir, - Regarding the GAA's weekend vote on Rule 42, there is one little point which I believe is worthy of some consideration. The figures for the vote, which are not in dispute, tell us that 176 votes were cast in favour of the motion and 89 against, making a total of 265. The motion needed a two-thirds majority to succeed and at 176, it was deemed to have been rejected. This was obviously on the basis that two-thirds of 265 is 176.6 or, rounded up to the nearest full figure, 177 (since you can't have 0.6 of a vote, much less a delegate!), and this was set as a target figure.
However, although this may be all right mathematically, in the context of democracy it is anything but. What the organisers of the poll have effectively done is to create one additional vote, no. 266, which of course never existed! Their only option in this situation is to round the calculated two-thirds down, in which event they would arrive at 176 - which was of course the number of votes for! The motion, therefore, in my opinion, was carried - not defeated. Where to next? I can only say: "Come on Roscommon - Judicial Review?" Why not? - Yours, etc.,
John Newman, Glasnevin Avenue, Dublin 11.
