Madam, - The recent local election results and the widespread opposition to the Iraq war has shown that many Irish citizens are deeply concerned with the status quo.
A Minister for Justice defends inequality. A two-tier health system guarantees quality treatment in a timely manner when money is no obstacle, while poor and medium-income citizens suffer and sometimes die while waiting for treatment. The education system, as report after report shows, is heavily skewed in favour of rich families, while the justice system fails to imprison well educated and systematic large scale criminals, quaintly referred to as "white collar".
This state of affairs has existed in Ireland for a long time but has become more pronounced in recent years. I have no doubt that tens of thousands of Irish people were energised when a man of the calibre, intelligence and integrity of Michael D. Higgins sought to run for the presidency. This was a prime opportunity to open a debate about the values that inform the actions of our policy makers; moreover, it would have placed the party founded by Connolly and Larkin centre-stage in that debate, a debate that would have been animated by the passion, acumen and erudition of Mr Higgins.
The reasoning of some of the current leaders of the Labour Party that the focus should be on by-elections and coalition-building with Fine Gael and the Greens completely misses the point that Labour Party policies could have received unprecedented media coverage in such a contest and that Mr Higgins would have a very strong chance of winning. If current Labour Party thinking is only on possible coalitions and not developing its own policies and reaching out to the many, many disaffected in this country, it is leaving the field open to Sinn Féin an the "caring" element of a politically astute Fianna Fáil party.
It is still not too late for Labour and Mr Higgins to shore up democracy in our country and give expression to many of the things that so many Irish people feel passionately about. Is the current Labour leadership up to the task of reassessing its decision of last week, before the political mould cools again and settles in another direction? - Yours, etc.,
JOHN MAHER, Drimnagh, Dublin 12.