Poor response to call for new political party

ON May 17 you published a letter in which I asked people to join me in setting up a new political party as I no longer have any confidence in the Government or the political system.

The quality of the people who responded was top-drawer, but they were very few.

Listening to RTÉ’s Liveline or reading the letters page, one experiences the anger and frustration of people. They feel let down by their politicians and are being asked to pay for the mismanagement of the banks and economy while those who caused the problem remain in situ, receiving huge salaries and bonuses.

They recently saw TDs shamed into handing back their pensions while still receiving massive salaries and expenses. They see government services being slashed and the HSE stumbling from one crisis to another with no one held accountable. Soon there will be more cuts and once again it will be the most vulnerable who will be targeted.

In the light of all this I decided to do an experiment and suggested that, instead of demonstrating on the streets, we hit the politicians where it will hurt most – at the ballot box.

On May 24, my family and I distributed 250 leaflets asking if there was a general election tomorrow, would you vote for any of the members of the present Dáil?

We chose Rockfield estate, Maynooth, Co Kildare, built in the late 1980s. It has a good mix of elderly, young people with families and of course students since Maynooth is a university town.

We received only one reply.

Leo Armstrong

Prosperous

Co Kildare