Selective analysis of pact politics

I read the letter of Jerry Buttimer TD (June 14) with amusement and interest.

Firstly, I found it amusing and somewhat entertaining that in Deputy Buttimer’s detailed, but selective analysis of 34 years of pact politics on Cork City Council, he never mentioned the elephant in the room. Of course he could have simplified his analysis by admitting at least once that in every case since 1979 the pact was made up of the representatives of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour, to the exclusion of other elected members of the council.

Also absent from his narrative was the crucial distinction that this time around, it was up to mandated councillors to “opt out” of involvement in key decision-making positions. This welcome change comes as a result of the adoption of the democratic and inclusive D’Hondt system.

Secondly, I found it interesting that Deputy Buttimer described the councillors who were party to the previous regime as being “prepared to accept the responsibility and privilege of key roles on the council”. The word I find interesting is the word “responsibility”.

This is because I would describe the previous status quo, where parties of the pact signed up to supporting five years of unseen budgets in order to share the spoils of office, as entirely irresponsible. The results of such an arrangement are to be found all around the city.

Cork City has water pipes dating back to the 1870s. The city suffers from a housing crisis, with over 8,000 currently on housing lists waiting to be housed. In recent years roads have been deteriorating and street lighting is intermittent in areas. Little has been done by the parties of the pact to solve these problems, even during “boom times”. In fact Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour, in national governments of various guises, have eroded the powers of local democracy in recent years.

In my view this is not an example of democratically mandated councillors acting “responsibly”. Mind you, it might have helped that the position of Ard Mhéara Chorcaí has been a very highly paid position and conference expenses for councillors were set at €145,000 per annum.

Lastly, I return to Deputy Buttimer’s election analysis to point out another glaring omission. The fact that representation of the current Government on Cork City Council has fallen from 14 to five, with his own party’s representation almost halved, should provide a wake-up call.

The people of this country deserve so much better from all elected representatives, locally, nationally and in Europe.

Eolan Ryng

Chairperson of Traolach MacSuibhne

Cumann, Sinn Féin Chorcaí

Barrack St

Cork