Independents do not have financial clout to fight second election at short notice

I have seen many letters on your pages since the last election, most of them a variation on the theme of ‘stop wasting time and form a government, or else call a new election’.

It seems to have especially upset many of your correspondents that the people of Ireland elected so many independents, and they lay some of the blame for the current impasse on this fact.

Presumably, too, your correspondents voted for one of the main parties, rather than for independents, or they wouldn’t have as much to complain about.