Letters: Use your vote if you want a say in your future, so many don’t have that chance

I checked some past voter turnouts, and they were not that impressive. The 1990 presidential election had a turnout of 63.72pc, the turnout was 50.20pc in the 2019 local elections, and it was 62.90pc for the last general election. This is an average turnout of 58.94pc. That means an average of 41.06pc over those three elections chose not to vote in the selection of our president, local councillors or TDs.

I recently engaged with a candidate who is running in the local elections for the first time, and I asked her why she was getting involved. She said it was time to get up and get involved in trying to solve local issues and do her bit. Get to know who your local candidates are, ask the questions on what you think is important locally and nationally. Keep asking the questions until you are satisfied with the answers and decide on that basis as to who will get your precious first-preference vote.

They say all politics is local, and no more so than now. ​

At the next general election, we will be electing 170 TDs, an increase of 10 from the 2020 general election. ​

If you let yourself be one of the 41.06pc who doesn’t vote in the upcoming elections, then you are, in effect, disenfranchising yourself from the process of electing our public representatives.

In this world, we are witnessing so much violence and displacement of innocent people, who, in many cases, do not have the right to vote due to gender or location or because they are so down beaten by their experiences that they are afraid to vote.

Peter Carroll, Castleknock, Dublin

People on social welfare need pay boosts to keep them above poverty line

Your report on the analysis by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) must raise serious concerns given the utter failure to caveat observations (‘People on welfare see incomes increase by higher rate than those in employment, Oireachtas study shows’, Irish Independent, May 28).

Highlighting, without context, the bigger income gains enjoyed by those on welfare hardly serves any purpose other than to create more friction within the community.

There is little argument that those living on basic social supports are in desperate need of boosts to keep them above the poverty line and all cost-of-living rises should be wholeheartedly welcomed and most certainly never used to cause rancour.

The PBO also warned of a “significant concentration risk at the heart of the income tax system” because the “top 7.7pc of earners” are now paying more than half of all income tax and USC.

What they fail to observe is that this is caused by the huge income disparity the current economic model has created. Simply ensuring that earnings are distributed more fairly will also broaden the tax liability.

Perhaps the Dáil would be better served if the PBO initiated a campaign to introduce a living wage, combined with a profit-sharing scheme for all workers. This would negate the need for any further such analysis on their part.

Jim O’Sullivan, Rathedmond, Co Sligo

New e-scooter laws might finally allow pedestrians to use footpaths again

How comforting to hear that the same law applying to bicycles now applies to electric scooters.

Recently, I met two young fellas happily hammering along standing on the same scooter. The “driver” reasonably enquired as to why the road was not big enough for me. He was right of course. How audacious of a pedestrian to be walking on the same footpath they were travelling on.

Tom Gilsenan, Beaumont, Dublin 9

Brave heroes of Normandy are now at peace, but we must never forget them

I enjoyed reading John Daly’s article on D-Day and the Irish heroes who participated (‘Is the bravery that impelled those thousands upon the beaches of Normandy still to be found today?’ Irish Independent, June 2).

I visited Normandy and was struck by the vast number of white crosses spreading across the green plains close to the beach. My first thought was how comforting and peaceful it felt there now compared to the horrors those poor soldiers endured on that never-to-be-forgotten date, June 6, 1944.

John Chatten, Carlow

As Leaving Cert starts, tell your children they’re loved no matter how it all goes

Once again it is that time of year, the Leaving Cert is upon us.

Please remember to tell your children, and often, that you love them. Tell them that you hope they will do their best, but whatever the outcome they can come home and they will be loved just as much as ever.

Tell them there is lifelong learning and the Leaving Cert is but one, relatively small, stepping stone along the road of life.

Brian Mc Devitt, Glenties, Co Donegal

Such forensic scrutiny of hurling managers is not fair – they deserve better

With a relative lull in the senior hurling championship before the provincial finals this coming weekend, I am reminded of the crucial person fundamental to every team, the manager.

Last week cannot have been easy for high-profile managers such as Liam Cahill, Henry Shefflin and Davy Fitzgerald. And others, of course, who give just as much with counties not profiled as much in the media.

The level of scrutiny given to these three men, especially Shefflin, over the past week is unfair and not cognisant of the fact that they manage in an amateur sport that demands professional standards, back-room team management and on-field team performance.

It is easy to see from the demeanour and reactions of these managers as their teams exited the championship that they are not in it for the money, an often unfair insinuation made about GAA county managers generally.

People who stand up to be counted in GAA county management do so knowing that the margins between success and failure are slim and sometimes flimsy.

They are deserving of a more reflective level of appreciation for what they do and less forensic scrutiny of what they are perceived not to have done.

Michael Gannon, Kilkenny city