By-elections are no more than a distorted verdict from a partial jury

IN a foreword he wrote to a book of mine a few years ago, the late Fine Gael TD Jim Mitchell argued that Dáil vacancies should be filled by co-options rather than through by-elections.

He had a point. Dáil by-elections are costly political exercises which give a distorted political influence to the voters of any constituency where, by reason of death or elevation to high office, a Dáil seat happens to come vacant.

Some argue that the value of by-elections is that they give the electorate an opportunity to pass judgement on the government mid-term. However, each by-election is a snapshot of public opinion in one constituency only, and so they are in reality nothing more than a distorted verdict from a partial jury.