Candidates need to come clean

I READ Fergus Finlay’s piece (Opinion, Oct 11) and probably came to a different conclusion than he intended me to reach.

Instead of agreeing that the questioning has gone too far, I concluded if the candidates had been honest in the first place, there’d have been no need for them to be questioned.

Mr Finlay admires the fact that Michael Higgins has run by far the most bland campaign of all the candidates. Certainly being all things to all men is a tried and tested formula in Irish politics and it certainly did no harm to Fine Gael. However, did that party’s resounding victory lead to any of the real reform people wanted? Has there been any reform to the pay, pensions and perks of the political class? No, of course not, but there was never going to be.

So will a Higgins’ presidency lead to inspiring Irish people to create a fairer society with more equal opportunities? No, of course not, but it was never meant to. Its sole purpose was to get Higgins into the Áras so he can revert back to the type of Presidency we had in the 1970s, but instead of a remote golfer, there’ll be an intellectual as President.

Mr Finlay defends Dana Scallon instead of asking why wasn’t she honest about being a US citizen in the first place, if it’s no big deal. If Martin McGuinness really is now a man of peace, then why isn’t he honest about his past and why does he go everywhere with goons in dark glasses? Why does Gay Mitchell fight tooth and nail against all efforts to make MEP’s expenses claims more transparent or for receipts to be provided and published if he’s nothing to hide? Why won’t Sean Gallagher provide the official paperwork to prove when he left Fianna Fáil?

Why doesn’t David Norris publish the letters and be damned?

Why doesn’t Mary Davis admit she has no qualifications for some of the board positions she received?

Furthermore, isn’t Mr Finlay at all concerned that some of the candidates’ spouses are actively involved in business, but none of them have clarified how that conflict of interest will be addressed if they are elected, especially in a small corrupt country like Ireland?

Instead of attacking the media for asking questions, as all insiders like Mr Finlay do, he would serve the democratic process better if he wondered instead why is it such information wasn’t forthcoming from the candidates themselves in the first place.

If the candidates themselves had been honest, there would have been no reason for the media to dig so deep.

Such dishonesty from those seeking to be President of Ireland simply begs the question of what else have they been hiding that the media haven’t yet uncovered.

Desmond FitzGerald

Canary Wharf

London