Leo Varadkar and leading Fine Gael

Sir, – With clear evidence that consistently negative portrayal of politicians damages both public trust and participation in democracy, it was disappointing that all five letters published on 05June 5th on the subject of Mr Varadkar's victory contained only varying degrees of smug, pompous sneering.

In the interest of balance, may I congratulate Mr Varadkar on his election and commend his evidently excellent campaign preparation? While imperfect, the rules and weighting of votes in the “electoral college” system employed were clearly understood and long established, with the contest won fairly and squarely. More people voted in this leadership election that in any other previously held in this country.

It is worth noting that two of the three other largest parties in Ireland did not allow an election when selecting their current leader, while the third awarded voting rights to TDs only.

Against this backdrop, criticism of the manner of Mr Varadkar’s victory betrays a hypocrisy matched only by political opportunism.

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Given the coverage Fine Gael has received over the last two weeks, it is impossible to imagine any party failing to adopt a variation of the electoral college system for their own next leadership election. If the opinion polls continue to follow current trends, it is likely we will find out sooner rather than later. – Yours, etc,

BARRY FLANAGAN,

Ballsbridge,

Dublin 4.

Sir, – Have your letter-writers never heard of the concept of giving someone a fair chance?

Leo Varadkar has not been in office as taoiseach for even a day – that comes next week – and yet we have the predictable condemnations and the stock whataboutery. – Yours, etc,

MICHAEL RYAN,

Dublin 8.

Sir, – Frank Schnittger (June 5th) quotes rather selectively from Leo Varadkar's 2008 letter to The Irish Times. He neglects to mention that Mr Varadkar's comment "There will be no global recession" followed on from the sentence "We are in the midst of a deep domestic recession and are about to be hit by the effects of an impending recession in western economies".

Mr Varadkar was quite correct that there would be a wider recession in western economies, but he was also correct that the recession would not be truly global. For example, Australia escaped recession, while the Chinese economy continued to boom.

I believe Mr Varadkar’s point was that the factors contributing to the Irish recession were not completely out of the control of the Irish government, which is what Brian Lenihan had tried to imply earlier that week. – Yours, etc,

JACK NORTHWOOD,

Murrumbeena,

Victoria,

Australia.

Sir, – In the days leading up to the elections I seem to have missed the widespread concern felt about the unfairness of the Fine Gael electoral college system.

Now that the election is over, this apparent flaw has reared its head like a disappointed parent after an underage football match. – Yours, etc,

PJ MALONEY,

Clonyhague,

Co Westmeath.

Sir, – Some 25 of voters voted for Fine Gael at the last election. That actually represents 16 per cent of the entire electorate (if you count those who did not vote). In other words, only one in six eligible voters voted for Fine Gael.

Now a man that wasn’t even leader of that party at that time stands to be elected as taoiseach. Even in his own constituency, less than 20 per cent gave Leo Varadkar their first-preference vote.

In order to maintain some semblance of democracy, should there not be a constitutional requirement that a general election is triggered whenever a taoiseach stands down as leader of the governing party? – Yours, etc,

DONAL BRENNAN,

Balgriffin,

Dublin 13.

Sir, – It would be interesting to determine how much or how little the wishes of their constituency members (and, from the poll indications, the general public) influenced the 296 elected representatives of Fine Gael in their choice of leader, or whether they used the old de Valera method of simply looking into their hearts to find the answer.

The net result would seem to be a reverse of the situation in Britain’s Labour Party, where the members support a leader unpopular with the parliamentarians.

Perhaps, like the British prime minister in May, the presumptive taoiseach should aim for a general election campaign in July, when the star in the ascendant, and a significant proportion of the population will be Leo. – Yours, etc,

DENIS BERGIN,

Shannon Harbour,

Co Offaly.

Sir, – Of the 50 countries in Europe, Ireland will soon be in the strange position of having both the youngest prime minister – Leo Varadkar at 38 – and also the oldest living former prime minister, as Liam Cosgrave turned 97 in April. – Yours, etc,

RONAN SCANLAN

Leopardstown,

Dublin 18.

Sir, – With the contest over and the new leader of the Fine Gael party now known, there are inevitably some bruised souls on the sidelines. People will have different views of the result, but few could disagree that the contest had its exhilarating moments. Hopefully there will many more to come under the youthful leadership of a man who represents so much of modern Ireland. – Yours, etc,

GEOFF SCARGILL,

Bray,

Co Wicklow.