Sir, - In the next century, when official documentation becomes available to historians, the key roles of Dick Spring and Fergus Finlay in developments in education, personal liberty, rights for the handicapped, national self-confidence and the national question will be fully revealed.
Mr Spring, Mr Finlay and their close colleagues were instrumental in transforming the Labour Party from a faction-ridden maelstrom into a coherent social democratic political force. Without that group, the Labour Party would probably have imploded and disappeared. From 1992, the managerial style of government proved an efficient engine to facilitate the transformation of policy into legislation. Spring was some time ahead of the British Labour Party in constitutional renewal.
As Fergus Finlay put it in his novel, politics is a cruel trade and gratitude is not a lasting characteristic of the electorate. Social liberalism is only a small part of the social democratic agenda. Labour and the Left should amalgamate and reposition themselves to address the major issues of individual isolation and the development of community. The drugs problem and social breakdown are symptomatic of our failure to date. The consumer's right to access, accountability and openness with regard to professional services remains to be addressed. Quality of service and outcomes measures need to be made routine in the legal, medical and teaching professions.
Whether and how to regulate the market has become the core economic issue. Because of the diversity of normal human behaviour, there is a danger that the over-regulation of many aspects of daily life will result in absurdity being institutionalised. The illiberal tyranny of the politically correct must not be allowed to replace the intolerance of our old closed society.
There is no shortage of unresolved problems. Spring and Finlay will be a hard act to follow. - Yours, etc.,
Dr Bill Tormey,
Glasnevin Avenue, Dublin 11.