Sir, – What is going on in the Dáil these days? We have a TD who is unable to use a swing without adult supervision, a TD that cannot find her way back to her correct seat, and a TD that get all confused and “inadvertently” votes on behalf of an absent colleague – repeatedly – as well as for himself. On the 100th anniversary of the first Dáil, the current Dáil is starting to look more like a crèche than the parliament of a sovereign nation. – Yours, etc,
NICK FOLLEY,
Carriagline,
Co Cork.
Sir, – Is it any wonder the attempt to introduce electronic voting in elections turned into such a fiasco?
They can’t even manage to do it properly in the Dáil. – Yours, etc,
JIM CUNNINGHAM,
Swords,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – As per Article 16.2.2 of the Constitution, “the total number of members of Dáil Éireann shall not be fixed at less than one member for each thirty thousand of the population, or at more than one member for each twenty thousand of the population.”
If individual citizens were found to have engaged in a “phantom” voting practice even for one vote in the context of a polling booth on general election day, then it would be treated as a serious offence.
Any vote cast by a TD is conducted from the vantage point of being an elected representative for many thousands of citizens, underlying the seriousness of the “phantom” voting scandal and as such without question any TD determined to have deliberately participated in such a practice ought to be called upon to resign their Dáil seats immediately given this scandalous tarnishing of the sanctity of our parliament. – Yours, etc,
Cllr JOHN KENNEDY,
(Fine Gael),
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown
County Council,
Dún Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Lisa Chambers is not convincing when she states that the reason she did not inform the teller of her “error” is because the vote in question was lost by a “large number” (“Fianna Fáil’s Lisa Chambers voted for Dara Calleary after sitting ‘in wrong seat’”, News, October 21st).
The fact is that she was prepared to leave the Dáil record in error after discovering her mistake and that demonstrates utter disrespect for our democratic institutions.
Her failure to immediately correct the Dáil record is every bit as delinquent as voting for someone else.
She must consider her position. – Yours, etc,
JIM O’SULLIVAN,
Rathedmond,
Sligo.
Sir, – Shouldn’t TDs need a public services card to vote in the Dáil? The best thing about this is that we wouldn’t need to actually debate another use for the card. We could just implement this extra use for it, as the Government has already done previously without any debate. – Yours, etc,
DAVID GORMAN,
Dublin 11.
Sir, – To get the daily allowance for Dáil attendance, TDs sign in “electronically by pressing a fob against devices on walls installed at various locations around Leinster House” (“Electronic voting in the Dáil”, News, October 21st).
Yet TDs dismissed the option of using an identity card for electronic voting because they might “lose their cards”.
If TDs can look after a fob (for getting attendance money), surely they could the same device to register voting in the Dáil chamber. Is it time for the appointed authorities in Leinster House to ensure that such thinking is done away with?
I suppose there is no possibility that TDs would ask their colleagues, or perhaps their staff, to use the fob to register their presence when absent from the Dáil. – Yours, etc,
DONAL O’BROLCHAIN,
Dublin 9.
Sir, – On a recent visit to the Dáil by our Active Age Group, we had to turn off our mobile phones in the viewing area above the Dáil chamber. Many of the TDs in the chamber were constantly on their phones. I suggest that all phones be turned off or placed on silent when TDs are present in the Dáil chamber. This would eliminate the need to leave to answer phone calls. – Yours, etc,
THOMAS J LILLIS,
Kilnamanagh Active
Age Group,
Kilnamanagh,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Maybe Boris Johnson should consult Timmy Dooley and Niall Collins on how to get the Brexit vote over the line. – Yours, etc,
COLM
Ó FATHARTA,
Rathgar,
Dublin 6 .
A chara, – My fingerprint is scanned to open my smartphone.
A similar check would increase the integrity of voting in the Dáil – until TDs found a way round it. – Is mise,
BLAIR NOONAN,
Dublin 6.