Writing to my local TD.

CommanderC

Hi There,

I would like to write to my local TD about an issue. I have looked up what constituency I am in and I have found that there are four TDs for the constituency.

Should I write to all of them ? Or is there one for my area in particular ?

Also, what if I write to them, but they do not share my concerns/they oppose my ideas. Will they just ignore me and not take me seriously ?

Are there any other people I can write to or should I only focus on those who have been elected?

What if I have an issue for a particular Minister, for example, the Minister for Transport, but they are not part of my constituency. Can I contact him/her directly or should I go through those elected for my area ?

Do people write to the Taoiseach directly about things ?

If anyone has any advice I would appreciate it .

Manach

I'd say if writing to a local TD, put in your name and address on all correspondences. It would make you more relevant, as a voter, to the recipient.

COYW

I agree with Manach. Write to or email them all. Don't hold your breath waiting for a response. It will take time. Some won't respond at all. I started my correspondence with "As a registered voter in your constituency, I am writing to .....", if I remember correctly.

Make sure they know you have a vote.

Sierra Oscar

You are better off contacting a local TD and asking them to contact a Minister on your behalf to raise an issue rather than contacting a Minister's office directly. Minister's offices have channels setup to respond to questions / queries from elected representative, so chances are you will receive a reply faster.

Going Forward

Do not expect much.

A lot of correspondence is filtered before a TD or Minister even gets near it.
If the subject is any way "technical" be prepared for a lot of misunderstanding.
If it relates to a quango's performance etc. the quango will generally either coach the Minister or write the response for him/her, and one will usually cover the other's back.

Bear in mind that you also have other avenues such as the Ombudsman if it is about something which falls under their charge.
If it is something of a European nature, contact your MEP or write to the European Commission.

It may be useful to have a number of your "associates" also write (to their TDs) regarding the same issue.

Keep it polite and to the point and always include your own personal details.

An email is a waste of time unless you treat it as you would a letter you were sending.

nesf

Letters work better than emails. They show more effort has gone in. Form emails, from petition sites are the most likely to be ignored or get a form reply unless you add a personal paragraph or two to them. Your name and address is essential, otherwise they often will ignore you unless they have a national portfolio as a Minister. Generally speaking Opposition TDs are both more likely to respond and to respond faster, though there are exceptions on both sides to this from talking to people.


Honestly, you won't know until you try. You can try sending an email first and if you get nowhere, a letter second and if you get nowhere you can go to a constituency clinic if you're very concerned about it.

sarkozy

What is the nature of your issue? While contacting TDs regarding your issue may be a good move to make, in reality, TDs can do little more than what would be your entitlement in law, etc. For example, if you've been improperly treated by a public body, the Ombudsman would be a place to bring a complaint, but a TD might 'represent' you by writing to the Office of the Ombudsman, which shouldn't really have any bearing on the complaint. In reality, TDs trade in acting as brokers in this regard, but writing to them can serve to highlight your issue to the relevant body on your behalf, but this ability is, in general, highly constrained.

In reality, you may receive a standard letter. If this is not sufficient, you could escalate it and request to meet them in their 'clinic' to discuss the matter further. You may raise the issue with all TDs in your constituency, and each may respond differently for all kinds of reasons.

If it's a local issue, in fact your local councillors and council officials may be a better place to go. Especially if it's a local issue.

Keepan Eye

Seem to be getting a lot of stuff in the door from TD's. Suppose they are due a shuffle soon. Why do I need a TD though. Seems a nonsense. Do they do anything .....I never see them any time I look at the Televised Debates on RTE.....5 or six maybe, out of how many?. None in my area have done anything in 5 years. Us plebians were incandescent with rage [ kinda ] over what people say FF/PD TD's did with the economy. Mind you the Opposition FG/LAB were voted in to the Dáil as an opposition but did naught to Halt the Carnage.
So why don't we just vote in a much smaller cohort. May as well and save the dosh , as thats how it is currently. Maybe 20 do stuff, the rest are just an unnecessary overhead ....best is they provide food for News Paper writers to comment about.

_Kaiser_

Keepan Eye wrote: »

Seem to be getting a lot of stuff in the door from TD's. Suppose they are due a shuffle soon. Why do I need a TD though. Seems a nonsense. Do they do anything .....I never see them any time I look at the Televised Debates on RTE.....5 or six maybe, out of how many?. None in my area have done anything in 5 years. Us plebians were incandescent with rage [ kinda ] over what people say FF/PD TD's did with the economy. Mind you the Opposition FG/LAB were voted in to the Dáil as an opposition but did naught to Halt the Carnage.
So why don't we just vote in a much smaller cohort. May as well and save the dosh , as thats how it is currently. Maybe 20 do stuff, the rest are just an unnecessary overhead ....best is they provide food for News Paper writers to comment about.

Lot of truth in this, especially when you consider the party whip system to keep the "ordinary" TDs in line and the real decisions being made not even necessarily by the Cabinet, but Kenny's "gang of 4" Economic Management Council.

We've created a system where most TD's are indeed only there to make up the numbers and present the illusion of choice and democracy, whereas in reality they have very little power to change things - unless perhaps they're propping up a coalition like for example Jackie Healy-Rae and I don't think we want to see more of that sort of political extortion either.

The result is that from the moment they get into power, they're practically untouchable until the next General Election - despite all the scandals, the waste, the incompetence and the abuses of power, there's virtually no accountability or consequences. Even if they're voted out or lose their Ministry (Shatter) they'll retain the salary and pension plan(s). We're then told that "nothing can be done" about this, yet there seems to be no issues rewriting or introducing legislation at lightning speed when it comes to new ways to squeeze the ordinary citizen.

Of course, we the electorate are just as culpable as we keep voting for these people regardless of ability because of name recognition, blind party loyalty, parish pump nonsense, and worst of all because we fear the alternatives so much that we'd rather the status quo - not that we really have any palatable opposition/alternatives to the current Big 2 arrangement though in fairness.

It is a real problem in our system and one which I don't see changing anytime soon as those who would have to lead that change are those who benefit most from the current arrangements.

FreudianSlippers

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

blind party loyalty, parish pump nonsense,

Whatever about anything else you said (some correct, some less correct) these are the major 2 issues.

I'm a party "agnostic" and try to vote on the merits of the candidate, but it seems for everyone else the issue is really that they aren't voting for a person, they're voting in a numbers game to ensure their party gets elected.

expectationlost

Keepan Eye wrote: »

Seem to be getting a lot of stuff in the door from TD's. Suppose they are due a shuffle soon. Why do I need a TD though. Seems a nonsense. Do they do anything .....I never see them any time I look at the Televised Debates on RTE.....5 or six maybe, out of how many?. None in my area have done anything in 5 years. Us plebians were incandescent with rage [ kinda ] over what people say FF/PD TD's did with the economy. Mind you the Opposition FG/LAB were voted in to the Dáil as an opposition but did naught to Halt the Carnage.

you an look for what they've done here http://www.oireachtas.ie/parliament/ rather then just on the news

Hannibal

COYW wrote: »

I agree with Manach. Write to or email them all. Don't hold your breath waiting for a response. It will take time. Some won't respond at all. I started my correspondence with "As a registered voter in your constituency, I am writing to .....", if I remember correctly.

Make sure they know you have a vote.

also TD's have copies of the green book which shows exactly who voted in previous elections, so regardless of registered voters they can all see whether you even bother voting.

When you go in to vote and they draw a line through your name on the sheet, the TD's have scans of every one of them pages. The mercenaries who are mostly FF and FG don't bother with you if you never vote.