Ah! There’s the rub. No one is going to vote for an old fart who just rambles on about the state of the country. We have enough of them in the Dáil as it is.

I actually disagree about voters weeding out the dross. People do vote for the strangest reasons. I know of one family who have voted Fianna Fáil for three generations. Why? Because an FFer once got their front door mended! People will vote because the candidate bought them a drink, or because the Party Car brought them to the booth. They will vote for a party because it is a family tradition. They will vote for a candidate because his/her father was a ‘grand fella’.

As I said above, McNamara will get a lot of votes. And he will get them because people remember him from the Late Late, not because he is a good politician.

What is sadly lacking in this country is not quality candidates, but rather an informed electorate. People are too quick to forget the appalling hash-ups the candidate has made in the past and to remember only the last [false] promise.

There is a big problem with how and why candidates are selected ,
but we do need them and so if people are willing to run they should
not be condemed the voters will do that quick enough.

My only problem is with single issue candidates because if they do
get elected they may not be too bothered with the thousands of
other issues that they now need to have an opinion on.Of course
better to have a single issue candidate than no a issue candidate.

You are an evil evil person for even suggesting such a thing! You will be held to account when RTE sees the suggestion and implements it!