Democracy is rapidly going out of fashion

SIR – Democracy is rapidly going out of fashion when it’s most needed now and Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are degrading the electorate who gave Sinn Féin over 700,000 votes, the highest since the 1920s.

We need to respect democracy and let Sinn Féin be part of the next government. This is what the Irish people want and what they voted for.

In 1932, Fine Gael agreed to transfer power to Fianna Fáil and rejected its fascist wing led by Eoin O’Duffy. Now, while everyone is focused on coronavirus, we find ourselves with an interim government that was voted out of office on February 8th and misusing the coronavirus to prolong their period in power, supported by Micheál Martin, who has a lot of problems with his own party, Fianna Fáil, over his attacks on Sinn Féin before they got the huge surge of votes for change.

Those who say Sinn Féin, the party that gained the highest percentage of first preference votes in the election, are not suitable for government are contradicting the democratic wishes of 24 percent of our people. For the future of democracy, it is vital that Sinn Fein be part of the next  Government when you consider FG-FF have originated from a violent past.

Noel Harrington,

Kinsale.