Madam, - Enda Kenny is playing to the middle-class, private-sector gallery once again, with his risible and his repetitive ramblings regarding benchmarking, despite the glaring hole in his argument - that he and his colleagues gained handsomely from this process. This raises some interesting questions.
Would Mr Kenny and Fine Gael really advocate a return to collective bargaining, industrial unrest and winters of discontent and a disgruntled public service? He and others consistently refer to a verifiable and transparent benchmarking process. But how exactly have he and his colleagues led the way by verifying publicly how they earned their increases through increased productivity and changes in work practices?
The current administration's decisions have certainly left a lot to be desired. However, if this stale and tedious nonsense is the best the alternative coalition can come up with, then perhaps Ahern, Harney and Co have little to fret about after all. - Yours, etc,
DAVID MARLBOROUGH, Kenilworth Park, Dublin 6w.