Council seats do not belong to parties

IN his letter (March 18), WB O’Flaherty insists that councillors Deirdre Forde and Chris O’Leary ought to resign their seats because they have recently resigned from their respective parties.

He says “they are hanging on to seats ... to which they are not entitled since they no longer represent the parties for which they were elected”. He goes on to say they should resign so “the party would then be entitled to nominate a member to the vacancy” and that the replacement (who would not have any mandate from voters) “would be entitled to the emoluments payable to the elected members”.

Mr O’Flaherty seems to have a very distorted view of how our democracy works. Elected councillors represent the people — not political parties. The people — and the people alone — have the sole right to remove them from their positions at an election.

Viewing seats as being the property of a particular political party is exactly the sort of thing that turns people away from the democratic process in their droves.

The electorate will have the opportunity to cast judgment on councillors Forde and O’Leary next June. In the meantime, Mr O’Flaherty should familiarise himself with the basic principles of how our democracy operates.

Barry Walsh

Brooklawn

Clontarf

Dublin 3