Sir, – Too much is being made of the fact that numerous Fine Gael TDs are not standing at the upcoming general election, as referred to again in the editorial of October 25th (“Harris marshals his new recruits”).
Most of the TDs involved have reached the natural age of retirement as aligned with any other standard workplace scenario, or will approach such an age over the course of the next anticipated five-year term.
In our parliamentary representative system (representing all generations), any citizen of any age is free if they so wish to contest for election.
However, if a politician wishes to retire in line with other work-related retirement age guidance, that should be deemed to be their prerogative.
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The fact remains that Fine Gael as a party has not faced any great difficulty in recruiting a generally younger cohort of already experienced councillors to run in the general election to replace those retiring, and a revitalising factor is evident in such a trend. – Yours, etc,
CLLR JOHN KENNEDY,
(Fine Gael),
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council Offices,
Dún Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.