It is the controversial poll that refuses to go away - but thankfully it has nothing to do with the state of the parties.
It is the RTE poll on Ireland’s Greatest Person, which has attracted a significant level of criticism because of the shortlist of people that the public can vote for - such as musicians!
Step forward Fianna Fail’s Mattie McGrath who wants RTE to go back to the drawing board to make sure everyone can have their say - including those who do not have any access to the internet.
Mattie has a problem with the voting system - it was limited to an RTE website.
“The problem is that internet voting excludes a large proportion of the population. There are many people in this country who still do not have easy access to the internet.”
“People who fall into that category would not have been able to place their vote as RTE did not make any other voting options available.”
And he pointed out that while the internet is a great tool, it is ‘still skewered towards the younger people of the country’.
“Since the poll closed, I’ve had several of my constituents complaint that they were unable to vote on this particular poll for these reasons.”
He said RTE has a duty to reopen the voting and provide other mechanisms for people to put their views forward.
“Otherwise, RTE’s designation of the Greatest will be a very questionable assertion,” he said.
And just for the record - Mattie’s vote for Ireland’s Greatest would go to Padraig Pearse.
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