Fitzgerald must either step down now… or be fired
There is no reason for a general election to be held now.
It could be averted in an instant if Frances Fitzgerald would do the decent thing and step down. And if she won’t step down, Leo Varadkar has a duty to sack her.
Her failure to take action on the email about the Garda legal team’s strategy regarding Maurice McCabe was very serious, at a time when her government was publicly expressing strong support for McCabe.
I accept that there were all sorts of failures here involving gardaí and politicians but Mrs Fitzgerald was in ultimate charge at the time and needs to take full responsibility.
It would be unforgivable to collapse the Government now when this can be resolved so easily.
Alan O’Toole, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. …So it looks like we will be having an election before the year end.
This is more to do with Fianna Fáil wanting one before Sinn Féin elects a new leader next year than anything that Frances Fitzgerald or Charlie Flanagan have done wrong. It shows that minority governments don’t work.
If the Irish electorate votes similarly to how it did last time, we will face many years of instability. …I’ve lost count of how often I’ve heard it said in the past few hours: ‘Imagine having an election over something so small, and at Christmas, for God’s sake.’
But it isn’t a small issue. It revolves around the courageous stance taken by a Garda whistleblower.
True, politicians won’t like a winter election but the rest of us shouldn’t be unduly discommoded. An election can clear the air, and maybe usher in a little political climate change that may (who knows?) benefit all of us. So I say: bring it on.
John Fitzgerald, Callan, Co. Kilkenny. …Could I suggest that the Minister of State for Dialogue with North Korea make an urgent phone call to Kim Jong-un and ask him to mediate between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael?
At this stage it might be easier to defuse the stand-off on the Korean peninsula but Rocket Man owes John Halligan one.
John Naylor, Walkinstown, Dublin 12.