A lesson from ‘probably the greatest Irishman’

IN his letter (October 15), Andrew Doyle emphasises the opportunism of independent TDs.

In my view he has chosen too small a target. Within the party system, national interest is routinely subordinated to factional party interests. In a speech to his Bristol constituents, Edmund Burke (probably the greatest Irishman ever) said: “Parliament is a deliberative assembly of one nation, with one interest, that of the whole; where, not local purposes, not local prejudices ought to guide, but general good, resulting from the general reason of the whole”.

And again: “Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.”