Sir, – Between June 1922 and May 1923, when this country was enduring a Civil War, Dáil Éireann convened on a total of 97 separate sitting days, passing 25 pieces of legislation.
These sittings took place despite the fact that ministers and many TDs were living under threat of assassination from terrorist insurgents who were, at that time, attempting to overthrow the democratic will of the people as expressed at the general election in June 1922.
What would those men think of our current crop of Ministers and TDs, both Government and Opposition, who decided to shutter the Dáil on Wednesday of this week for fear of having to pass a picket?
It is a mark of the sheer irrelevance of the Dáil to policymaking over the last decade that this decision could be agreed on by Government and Opposition alike, without a single dissenting voice.
RM Block
It is an affront to democracy that our elected national parliament was shuttered for a day, essentially at the behest of unelected trade union bosses. – Yours, etc,
BARRY WALSH,
Clontarf,
Dublin 3.
