Presidential election a mirror of our society

WITH the tawdry debacle that was the nomination process now over, I am fairly confident that each one of the seven chosen candidates could perform the functions of the Presidency adequately. The people must decide, however, which candidate can put Ireland on the world stage, in these chastened economic times.

Who we decide to elect as President will tell the world where we are at, as a people and a nation.

Communicating to the world that we are at last at peace and that we can sit down with our nearest neighbours would be positive.

Martin McGuinness would test some of us down here and across the water into accepting that terrorism was indeed a valid armed struggle. However, showing the world that we are indeed a truly tolerant society, breaking free from our conservative Catholic shackles and that we can embrace all people by electing our first gay President in David Norris would be sublime.

I fear, however, that we will choose an intellectual, in his 70s with a penchant for poetry, a “handmaiden” of the Government who had originally joined Fianna Fáil in his younger days.

Michael D Higgins did, however, lift the broadcasting ban on Sinn Féin in 1993 and maybe that is where we are at, in our collective psyche.

We must, perhaps, wait some time before we can get away from our homophobia and become that tolerant society who can embrace all our people irrespective of sexual orientation.

Brian Twomey

Wandesford Quay

Cork