President needs to take long-term view

Sir — In my opinion, the difference between the office of a Taoiseach or prime minister and the office of head of state or president is like the difference between the sisters Mary and Martha in the Gospel.

Martha worked hard to keep the material things in her household in good working order while Mary, as she sat down listening and asking Jesus questions, sought to gain for herself a more deeper understanding of what kind of spiritual purpose life has in store for all of us.

While the businesses of both the Taoiseach and our president overlap to some extent concerning the immediate material care and physical well-being of every Irish citizen (which was the work of Martha), the president’s role should also have a significant spiritual outlook on life.

This is what Mary felt the need for, listening to Jesus in the Gospel story. This should be the case, too, for an Irish president because he or she needs to be able to see further and clearer into the future that is coming inevitably towards us to help guide us safely through any perils that might be in store.

In the 2010 British general election, the future UK prime minister, David Cameron, said, as I recall, during a televised debate certain words like “who knows what things will be like in 50 years’ time”.

He probably used this phrase because as a prime minister his main task was short-term — to win general elections every few years for his party. This shortterm thinking could be the main reason why Mr Cameron had to resign just over a year after winning his second general election for his party. A longerterm view over the need to hold a Brexit referendum would have allowed him to do greater things for Britain.

Queen Elizabeth, as the head of state of the UK, should by right be the most qualified person to help her prime minster and her subjects to look a good 50 years ahead into what type of future might be in wait for them. But instead her most important speeches are completely written by her government. The fact that she is not elected by her subjects and that her own experiences of life have been very protected means her own particular vision for Britain might not be as fully complete and as broad-ranging as it could be.

Fortunately, the president of Ireland is chosen by the whole Irish electorate and should be able, during the seven long years of his or her tenure, to come up with a long-term vision for Ireland. This, I believe, should be the case as Ireland faces several large challenges of Brexit, climate change, new technology and populism, etc.

The president should also address, I feel, the complete lack of any questions being asked during the presidential election campaign on TV or radio programmes about what Ireland’s spiritual values are and what they might be — whether good or bad — in the future. Sean O’Brien Kilrush, Co Clare